


let's play

by melancholywhite



Category: EXO (Band), SHINee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Romance, although it's 'fake', not too much i swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-04 11:34:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13363893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melancholywhite/pseuds/melancholywhite
Summary: Taemin and Jongin play a game to prove that they are not in love, despite their friends' accusations. All they have to do is flirt with each other a little, and whoever falls in love first loses.As they say, they just have to play and win.No harm.(Based on prompt by taekaibible)





	1. Chapter 1

**_I heard you're a player._ **

**_So let's play a game._ **

_Let's sweet talk._

_Let's play fight._

_Let's talk 24/7._

_Let's tell each other good morning and good night every day._

_Let's take walks together._ _Let's give each other nicknames._

_Let's hang out with each other's friends._

_Let's go on dates._

_Let's talk on the phone all night long._

_Let's hold each other._

_Let's kiss and hug._

**_And whoever falls in love first?_ **

**_Loses._ **  

- 

The day starts just like any other.

Nothing is out of normal. Taemin spends his time recording and practicing, going to a couple meetings here and there to discuss this and that. He goes home, changes his clothes, picks up Jongin at his dorm, and heads over to the restaurant where their friends are waiting. 

Everything is normal.

When they arrive, Moonkyu and Kwonho are sitting at the table in their usual corner, with multiple plates of meat and other things laid out on the table. 

"Oh, our resident married couple is here!" Kwonho waves them over.

Moonkyu looks up from where he’s cooking the meat on the barbecue pan, sending them a smile. "Took you guys long enough." 

"We're not a 'married couple'." Taemin laughs as he sits at the table, Jongin taking the seat next to him as he always does.

"Okay, not married, just in love," Kwonho grins at their glares. Moonkyu laughs and leans back, letting the meat sizzle on the pan.

This, too, is actually quite normal. 

Eighty percent of the dating rumors surrounding Taemin and Jongin probably comes from the way their best friends tease them all the time. However, the fact is that they are absolutely not in love. 

They love each other, sure. Like friends do. It's called platonic love. 

Rolling his eyes, Jongin scoffs. "Yes, yes, we love each other."

"Platonically," Taemin adds. For good measure.

"Definitely." Jongin pokes at the side dishes on the table, picking up one or two for a nibble. "One hundred percent platonic."

Moonkyu flips over a piece of short rib, laughing. "One hundred percent? Are you sure?"

"Don’t worry, we love you guys too," Taemin chuckles, and the conversation ends there.

Or that’s what he thought.

They ate their food and talked about other things for about an hour. Today, however, their two friends seem unsatisfied with leaving the topic alone.

"Can you prove it?" Kwonho eggs them on all of a sudden, somewhere in between his second and third glass of beer. "That it’s a hundred percent platonic."

"What?" Taemin almost chokes on his food. "We're talking about this _again_?"

"How do you even prove something like that?" Jongin stares at their friends in disbelief. Moonkyu hums, his mouth full of food, gesturing at Kwonho to look at his phone.

"Show them the thing." Kwonho sends him a confused look, so he swallows all the food and repeats himself. "That thing. That we found earlier?"

Kwonho exclaims in understanding and grabs his phone, searching for who knows what. Taemin glances at Jongin to see if he knows what's going on, but Jongin looks as clueless as he is.

"It's a game. It's fun." When Kwonho finally finds whatever he's looking for, he shoves the phone into Taemin’s hands. "Here. Read it."

Taemin does. Jongin leans over to read it, too. His face gets merely inches from Taemin’s and he's literally breathing on his cheek, but Taemin ignores it.

"What the hell?" Jongin finishes reading and sends their two friends a death glare. "Will today be the day I finally kill you guys?"

Moonkyu laughs, unfazed. "Doesn’t it sound fun? You guys practically do this already, anyway."

"This game doesn’t prove anything," Jongin argues.

Kwonho takes a sip of his beer. "But it does. Just play and win. No harm done."

Jongin's jaw drops.

"You’re saying this because you’re not the ones doing it."

"Of course," Kwonho barks out in laughter, "You guys are the ones in denial, not us."

Jongin sputters and finally turns to Taemin, his jaw dropped as if saying _'can you believe this?'_ Taemin agrees with Jongin, but if he has to be honest, it _really_ doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

As Kwonho says, they just have to play and win—no harm. However, Jongin stays unconvinced.

"How about this? The loser pays the winner a hundred bucks," Kwonho suggests.

Taemin lifts an eyebrow and finally decides to voice his thoughts. "Just a hundred bucks?"

"—Wait, you’re agreeing to this?" Jongin redirects his glare to Taemin. "Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?"

"What’s the harm?" Taemin sends him a taunting smirk. "I dare you to play the game. Unless you’re not confident enough?"

Jongin always gets competitive over the strangest things, especially when Taemin's involved. So, when the younger man scrunches his face, Taemin already knows what his answer will be.

"Fine." Jongin pouts and leans back, making an effort not to look at any of them.

Taemin grins. "A hundred bucks. Deal?"

"... Deal."

Moonkyu claps—seal-claps, to be exact—at both of them. "Great, start tomorrow!"

Jongin’s grumble next to him sounds suspiciously like 'why am I friends with you guys' but as always, Taemin ignores it. 

-

Jongin wakes up to his phone ringing and vibrating next to his pillow.

He turns over and covers his ears, but it just keeps ringing. He groans.

"What do you want?" Jongin grumbles into the phone. The only reason he picked up is because the caller is Taemin, but he already regrets it.

"Good morning, babe."

Taemin is giggling. At ten in the morning.

Something is not right. Taemin is never this happy. In fact, he's normally the one grumbling at this hour.

Wait.

For what feels like more than a second, Jongin blanks. "... _Babe_?"

"Yeah. Babe."

Jongin still doesn't get it.

Taemin stops giggling. He must be rolling his eyes at his idiocy.

"Didn't we agree on playing the game? Yesterday?"

Oh. That's right. The game.

The one their friends told them to do.

"Saying good morning and good night is on the list. Nicknames, also on the list."

If Taemin isn't already rolling his eyes, he's definitely doing it now. For the second time, maybe.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry, I was half-asleep." Jongin gets up, ruffling his hair as he walks over to the mirror, phone in hand. He has to say, he never expected Taemin to start right away.

"Did your heart skip a beat?" Taemin is definitely grinning. He can see it—he can even _hear_ it in his voice.

This is the result of their ten-year friendship. He should get a reward.

"You wish," he snorts.

Fixing his hair in front of the mirror doesn't work. His hair just refuses to look nice today.

"Okay, lazy bear, I have to work now," Taemin says from the other end of the line. Jongin hears shuffles on Taemin's end, so he must be getting off the car. "Call me later, okay?"

He hasn't even responded when Taemin hangs up.

Ah, screw it. He doesn't know anything anymore.

"I might as well do this and get a hundred bucks," he mutters to himself as he heads to the shower.

-

"Who was that?" Taemin's curious manager pulls up a chair next to him when they get to the practice room. "You're dating someone?"

"No, that was just Jongin." Taemin hasn't even heard the next question but he already knows his answer. "And no, I'm not dating Jongin. How many times do you have to ask, hyung?"

"Oh, you call all your friends babe? I didn't know." The older man grins, not trusting his claims. "It's okay, just be careful."

"We really are just best friends." Taemin tries to explain, but his manager is not having it. "We're just playing a game. It's a dare."

"Exactly. Just like this. Keep it up." The man nods at him, dismissing all his explanations as he gets up to leave the room. "I'll go find out if they'll be ready for us soon."

Taemin grabs his phone, his thumbs flying on autopilot to find Jongin's contact.

_My manager still thinks we're dating_

_It's been years_

_I even told him it was a game but he doesn't believe me_

_Help_

**_Delivered 10:18_ **

Jongin doesn't reply until hours later. Taemin almost curses at him when he sees the text.

**_Jongin_ **

_Lol_

**_15:42_ **

-

The first thing Jongin does when he enters SHINee's dorm is make a beeline to Taemin's room. He barely registers Minho playing some game in the living room when he walks by, and he promptly ignores their manager's curious gaze from the open kitchen.

He crashes onto Taemin's bed as soon as he enters, the door opening and slamming behind him. The previously sole occupant of the room looks up from his laptop as he feels the bed shift from Jongin's weight.

"Well, hello to you too," Taemin scoots over even without his urging, naturally making some space for him. "What's the rush?"

Jongin doesn't answer him. Instead, he looks Taemin straight in the eye.

"Let's cuddle."

"So suddenly?" Taemin gives him a look. He knows this look—hell, the entire world knows this look—it means Taemin is judging him.

Understandable, since he was the one hell-bent on refusing to play the game.

"Let's do an hour. Or two?" Then Jongin adds for good measure, "It's for the game."

"I know." Taemin says nothing else. His stare is still suspicious, but he shifts closer to Jongin, tucking himself under his arm and resting his head on his shoulder. "Like this?"

Jongin hums in approval and makes himself comfortable. This seems oddly natural; it doesn't make his heart pound or anything.

He must be winning.

"You should play a movie or something," he gestures at Taemin's laptop, and he just… presses play on the video that was already on the screen.

"I was monitoring," Taemin shrugs against him as if he can feel Jongin's judging stare on the back of his neck. Jongin chuckles and pulls his friend even closer, trying not to laugh when the other's hair tickles his neck.

For an entire hour, Taemin watches the video intently, scrutinizing each and every detail.

The Taemin on the screen dances and grinds against the floor beautifully in the way only he knows how to do, while the Taemin next to him has his eyebrows furrowed each time he spots an imperfection.

Jongin doesn't know which Taemin to watch.

"Ah, I should work on that kick," Taemin interjects. He repeats the same spot a couple of times, shaking his head in dissatisfaction.

"It looks fine," Jongin mumbles, "Your kick is beautiful."

"Oh?" Taemin shifts to look at him, a teasing grin fixed on his lips. "Is the kick more beautiful, or is the person doing it more beautiful?"

Jongin pretends to think before he answers. "The person, of course."

The answer is a given, since they're playing this game—any other answer would decrease his chances of winning. He strokes Taemin's hair for an additional effect, and sends him his most killer smile.

Taemin lifts an eyebrow, amused. "Are you sweet-talking me right now?"

Jongin returns a grin at Taemin, playing with a strand of his hair. "Is it working?"

Taemin's own smile turns mischievous as his small hand wanders to Jongin's stomach. He must be planning something; Jongin stays still with an eyebrow raised as a challenge, waiting to see what he's going to do next.

"Is _this_ working?" Taemin grins playfully. The hand on his belly starts moving, slowly and purposefully tracing his defined abs; Taemin trails his fingers up towards his chest, and to his neck, stopping to caress it before going down to his collarbone and moving towards his shoulder—

Then the door opens.

They both freeze.

"Taeminnie, I ordered jokbal, do you.."

The rest of the manager's words must have been swallowed by his shock of whatever he thinks he's seeing, because instead of continuing, he stays rooted in his spot by Taemin's door.

Well, Jongin would misunderstand too if he sees two people sitting on a bed, groping each other. He really doesn't blame this poor manager.

"...Sorry about that. Continue...whatever you were doing." The manager turns around and closes the door behind him.

Taemin finally unfreezes and pulls away, putting his laptop on his nightstand.

"Let's eat some jokbal," he stands up next to the bed and looks down at Jongin. "Are you coming?"

Jongin shoots him an exaggerated fake pout. "Babe, be honest. Do you like jokbal better, or me?"

Taemin barks out in laughter and reaches down to pinch Jongin's cheek.

 _That_ just turned his fake pout into a _real_ pout.

"Well, _babe_ , I like you a lot but," Taemin pats his cheek before pulling away with a tiny wink. "I'm sorry, jokbal is more important to me."

"Yah!" Jongin's exclamation is ignored by his supposed best friend, who has now opened the door.

Later on, when they're gathered around the table eating jokbal, Jongin feels the need to state a fact.

"This means I win at sweet talking," he grumbles, "And holding. You didn't even last an hour."

"My video was more than an hour, but sure, whatever," Taemin laughs and shoves a piece of jokbal into Jongin's mouth. "Eat."

"I'm winning," Jongin reiterates, despite having a mouth full of meat. Taemin just takes more pieces of jokbal and grins at him.

"I'm not worried. We have lots of time."

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have zero confidence in this but I'm posting it anyway. Enjoy~


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taemin and Jongin go on a not-a-date.

Taemin can't sleep. He's been in bed, tossing and turning for more than half an hour, but even though his eyes are closed, he still can't go to sleep. After all the long hours he's been working in the past few months, his body isn't used to sleeping early. All the energy in his body is  _ begging _ to be let out—his schedule didn't allow it today, being a lot more relaxed than usual.

The screen of his phone lights up next to him, showing all the notifications he's ignored since he tried to go to bed, and the time. It's a little past midnight. Normally, he would just be getting out of work at this hour, with long days of rehearsals and recordings filling his schedule to the brim.

To think he was actually glad that he could get home early and sleep. Now he's not even sleeping; he's just home early and boring himself to death instead.

Rolling over for the umpteenth time, his mind wanders. Going back to the studio to practice is one option. It's not like he doesn't do that all the time. Or he could go to the gym. His manager will probably get mad at him, though—he has a long rehearsal tomorrow.

Or he could wake someone up to suffer with him.

Jongin is probably free now. Jongin's been so busy the whole day he didn't have time to call or text him. No thanks to all the meetings and photoshoots and rehearsal he got scheduled into.

Scrunching his face at the thought of packed schedules, Taemin reaches for his phone once again, deciding that texting Jongin is a good idea.

_ Jongin _

_ Jongin-ah _

_ Jonginnie _

**_Delivered 00:24_ **

Jongin doesn't reply his first few texts. He's definitely still awake, though. He's probably ignoring him. Taemin rolls his eyes at the thought—although it's really not a problem. Taemin has never been someone who gives up easily.

_ Jonginnnn _

_ Kim jongin _

_ Kai-ssi? _

_ Nini? _

**_Read 00:26_ **

**_Jongin_ **

_ What _

**_00:27_ **

Taemin chuckles when Jongin finally replies him. A stupid grin automatically plasters itself on his lips, just as he's reading Jongin's curt one-word reply and typing his own.

_ Ok _

_ You responded to Nini _

_ I'll call you that from now on _

**_Read 00:27_ **

It's not funny. He can practically see Jongin rolling his eyes while judging his sense of humor. Despite that, though, his grin is just getting wider and wider. There's really no helping it.

Instead of a reply, Jongin's name appears on the screen instead, signaling a call coming through. Taemin doesn't even have to think before pressing the green answer button.

"Hey—"

"What do you want?" Jongin asks, even before Taemin finishes greeting him.

"Let's go get coffee," Taemin says. "I can't sleep."

"Yah, you know what time it is?" Jongin complains. "I  _ literally _ just got home."

"That's why I'm calling you  _ now _ , not earlier," Taemin rolls his eyes. "So? Do you wanna get coffee with me or not?"

Jongin huffs into the phone. "I don't even  _ like _ coffee."

"I know. Who doesn't know that baby Jongin doesn't like coffee?" Taemin sniggers, much to Jongin's chagrin. The younger man's cursing is  _ very _ audible.

"We can go for a walk instead," Taemin offers, after a while. "I just need to get out. Come with me. Please?"

The line goes silent.

Then Jongin sighs. If it stayed silent just a little longer, Taemin might have suspected that his phone died.

"Fine. Pick me up."

Taemin cheers inwardly, then he gets an idea. A smug grin starts to form on his face. "I will. It's a date!"

Jongin balks. "Wait. What?"

The 'date' thing was improvised on Taemin's part, but at least Jongin is coming out with him. And this will give him a chance to get the upper hand in their little game.

"Get ready. Bye." Taemin laughs and hangs up before Jongin could bail. 

Now that  _ that's _ settled, all he needs to do is change his clothes.

And maybe figure out where he put his car keys.

-

The first thing Jongin does, after snapping himself out of the reverie induced by Taemin's sudden 'date' declaration, is find an outfit. Purely on instinct, he looks himself over on the full-length mirror in his room, and decides that his face looks decent enough. His outfit, however, is a mess—he was in the middle of changing into his sleepwear when Taemin texted him.

If it's a 'date' then he has to look nice. He can't look like he literally just rolled out of bed. Shuffling through his drawers, he finds himself a nice, plain t-shirt to wear, and puts the jeans he just took off for bed back on.

Now he needs a jacket.

The problem is, he can't  _ find _ the jacket he wants, even after rummaging through the closet in his room  _ and _ the shared closet outside. Not the best time to be losing his stuff.

"Are you going out?"

Junmyeon's voice sounds from the living room, where he's been watching Jongin walk back and forth between his room and the dorm's shared closet for the past ten minutes.

"Gonna see Taemin for a bit," Jongin answers absentmindedly, still going through the closet. He might have missed it while looking. "Hyung, do you know where my nice jacket is?"

"You have a ton of nice jackets, which one are you looking for?"

"Ah, I don't know anymore." Jongin pulls out the first black hoodie he sees and puts it on. He walks into the living room, snatching a baseball cap on the way, before stopping right in front of Junmyeon. "How does this look?"

"It looks fine," Junmyeon offers, an eyebrow lifted, "Aren't you just going to see Taemin? What's the fuss?"

Jongin stills.

Taemin probably didn't mean anything when he said that it will be a date. The most likely scenario is he was joking around and messing with him. And it's just for the game.

Which means it's not a  _ real _ date.

Plus, it's just Taemin. Knowing him, the man himself would probably wear something that makes him look like he just pulled whatever he can find in his closet and threw it on.

But then again, he has never been out on a supposed 'date' with Taemin. He has no idea how to act.

"Are you sure I don't have to change?" Jongin asks, just to make sure. "Should I wear glasses? Or no glasses?"

He starts walking to his room again to grab his glasses. "Or should I wear my beanie instead of the cap?"

"Are you  _ really _ just going to see Taemin?" Junmyeon eyes him with suspicion. "You're acting like you're going on a—"

"It is  _ not _ a date," Jongin cuts off before Junmyeon even says the word.

"I was gonna say it's fine as long as you let me know. If it  _ was _ a date." Junmyeon shrugs, "But since you're just going on a  _ 'not-a-date' _ with Taemin… I'm sure he knows what he's doing."

Right on cue, Jongin's phone vibrates in his pocket. Taemin must be downstairs. He rushes to the shoe cabinet.

"Okay, hyung, I'm going on a  _ not-a-date  _ with Taemin," Jongin says as quietly as possible, as he slips into his go-to pair of sneakers. He doesn't even bother to put it on properly. "And if I don't get back in time for our schedule tomorrow just pick me up at his house. Bye!"

Jongin is already closing the door when Junmyeon says  _ 'be careful' _ behind him, and rushes into the elevator, not wanting anyone else to notice him leave.

A familiar white BMW is waiting right outside the lobby when he walks out; Jongin bolts right inside, entering the car before anyone could see him. He almost missed seeing the drink carrier on the passenger's seat in his hurry, almost sitting  _ on _ it—he's lucky he noticed it before he spills drinks all over the place.

"Hey," he greets, completely out of breath. Taemin looks at him from the driver's seat, lips quirking up at his scramble to get in the car.

"Wow, were you that excited to see me?" Taemin teases as they leave the driveway. Even Jongin's glare doesn't succeed in wiping the smug grin off of his face. "I got you drinks, if that isn't obvious."

Jongin looks down at the two cups of drinks in the carrier he's holding, and glances at the iced americano tucked safely in the cup holder next to Taemin.

"You got me two drinks?"

"Bought something new for you to try," Taemin answers nonchalantly without even looking at him. "And also got you iced tea, just in case."

Jongin hums and takes out the so-called 'new' drink. The liquid is light brown with white swirls from slightly uneven mixing, and a couple cubes of ice floats just below the lid.

"...Is this coffee?" Jongin glances at Taemin, suspicious. Taemin stays mute. Having known him for a decade, he knows his refusal to answer is basically a confirmation. "You  _ know _ I don't like coffee."

"Just try it," Taemin insists. "You'll like it. I swear."

Jongin eyes the light brown liquid in the cup again, still unsure if he's going to die of poisoning after taking a sip. He shifts his eyes back to Taemin. "What do I get for drinking it?"

Taemin takes a quick glance at him before redirecting his gaze to the road in front of him. His silence is half a beat too long; Jongin half-wonders if Taemin didn't hear him.

"What do I get?" Jongin repeats.

"Wait, I'm thinking," Taemin rolls his eyes at his impatience, "Let's see…How about a kiss?"

Jongin stiffens. "What?"

An awkward second that feels like forever passes before Taemin lets out a tense chuckle.

"Just kidding," Taemin justifies himself. "And the game, remember?"

Jongin ends up taking a sip of the mysterious drink while trying to distract himself from the sudden hint of self-consciousness he's feeling, and it's… surprisingly good. And he's still alive after drinking it, which means it isn't as  _ poisonous _ as the types of coffee he's familiar with.

He takes another sip.

Taemin notices, and starts snickering. "It's latte. You like it, don't you?"

Taemin doesn't stop laughing. He looks so smug about it; if he wasn't driving, Jongin would probably hit him. Playfully, of course.

"Wow. Jongin is drinking coffee," his friend continues, still having fun at his expense. Jongin keeps drinking, if only to stop himself from cursing at his friend for making fun of him. "This is big news. Should I ask the company to make a press release?"

Good thing they were at a red light. Jongin snaps and lightly punches Taemin in the arm. Taemin reflexively dodges his attack and shoots him a pout.

"Jonginnie, you hurt me," Taemin whines, the pout just getting more pronounced with every word.

"Shut up and drink your own coffee," Jongin grumbles.

Taemin bursts into another fit of laughter, and this time Jongin doesn't even bother trying to stop him.

-

Taemin ends up taking the drive towards the Han River. He parks his car at a nearby lot, and takes Jongin on a walk along the river. The normally packed area is quiet, so late in the night. Nobody is around; the only things accompanying them are the trees swaying with the wind and the city lights they can see from afar.

Unwilling to ruin the perfect stillness of the scenery, they walk mostly in silence, and they only talk in hushed voices, about mundane, everyday topics. For others, it might be boring, but Taemin has always found this— a nice and quiet walk with Jongin—to be a nice break from the fast-paced lives they live as idols in the entertainment industry.

Jongin's arm somehow finds its way to his shoulder, pulling him closer. Taemin shifts a little to accommodate the change in posture; the wind is a little strong and Jongin's warmth is a welcome comfort. Jongin probably shares the sentiment.

A while into their walk, Taemin suddenly remembers their game, and realizes the normality of this  _ 'date' _ they are on. The game is supposed to make them do things that is  _ outside _ of what is 'normal' betwelen them, and while Taemin likes spending time with Jongin  _ normally _ , he also needs to win a game.

"We should give each other real nicknames," Taemin says.

"What kind?" Jongin's voice is soft yet clear in his ears; the lack of distance between them making it much easier to talk quietly but still be heard. Somehow, this makes it really hard for Taemin to stay casual about this situation.

"Something other than  _ babe _ , definitely," Taemin jokes, hoping his nervousness doesn't show. "Everytime I say it I feel like cracking up."

"Then use darling or honey instead," Jongin suggests with the most serious expression.

Taemin has no clue if he's joking or not. He may be playing a game, and he's willing to try his hardest to make Jongin lose, but he's  _ not _ going to call anyone  _ darling _ .

"...Do you want me to vomit?"

Jongin chortles, then bursts out into laughter.

"Sure, 'darling', just don't do it on me," Jongin says teasingly in between laughs.

Unable to accept that he's being made fun of, Taemin huffs and moves to poke Jongin on his side. However, Jongin manages to shift his torso away reflexively, avoiding his attacks.

"You idiot." Taemin grumbles as he keeps trying to poke Jongin to vent his frustration.

"Your idiot," Jongin plays along, still dodging Taemin's poking attempts.

Taemin gets caught off guard by the random declaration, and Jongin seizes the chance to grab his hands, holding them still.

Jongin's hands are really warm.

Jongin's smile, however, is even warmer, and Taemin can't seem to find the strength to look away. That soft smile on Jongin's lips makes him tingle all over, and he can feel all the blood rushing to his cheeks—he just hopes it isn't  _ visible _ .

When Taemin comes to his senses, his traitorous fingers are already perfectly entwined with Jongin's, as if the space between Jongin's fingers are made for his fingers to fit in. His cheeks are still burning even as he forces himself to look away from Jongin's intense gaze.

All he wants right now is a place that is dark enough to hide—so Jongin won't see how red his face is.

"I'm calling you idiot from now on," Taemin ends up saying, unable to bear with the awkward tension surrounding them. He pulls one of his hands away from Jongin's, and tugs on the other to get him to walk.

Jongin rolls his eyes and falls into step with him with a teasing smirk.

"What happened to calling me Nini?"

Taemin refuses to answer.

"Take that annoying smirk off your face," Taemin huffs. His hand betray his mind yet again, however; he tightens his hold on Jongin's hand, squeezing it lightly as they walk side by side.

Jongin laughs, and the smirk softens into a smile as he squeezes back.

"Okay, okay."

-

"Grab whatever clothes you want," Taemin says once he closes his bedroom door behind Jongin. They ended up at his house, somewhere in between very late at night and very early in the morning. His dogs didn't greet him at the door, probably sleeping at his brother's room. "You know where they are, right?"

"Yeah," Jongin answers, walking towards the drawers where Taemin keeps his sleepwear. Jongin stays over often enough that he knows where everything is. After a decade of friendship, Jongin is practically his mother's third son by now. Taemin wouldn't even be surprised if Jongin's own clothes have somehow strayed into his drawer.

Assuming that Jongin will find himself something to wear, Taemin walks over to where he had haphazardly thrown his clothes when changing to go out with Jongin. He takes his shirt off without much thinking—all sense of modesty he used to have had been dulled years ago, from constantly having to change in front of a dozen staff members, and stripping his costumes off onstage, in front of  _ thousands  _ of people—and it's just Jongin, anyway.

Suddenly, the room turns oddly quiet.

When Taemin glances up, he sees Jongin standing frozen by the drawers as his gaze travels towards him. He pretends to ignore it, choosing to turn away, but Jongin's stare is so intense, he can practically feel it through his skin. Shivers travel up his spine, and all the blood in his body rush to his cheeks—it's so hard to not feel suddenly self-conscious when you're being subjected to such a stare.

"Are you going to change, or are you going to keep staring at me all night?" he says, not daring to face Jongin just yet. He puts on the old t-shirt he haphazardly threw on the floor before he left, and changes his pants as well, pretending to be nonchalant.

Jongin blinks.

Then he clears his throat and forcibly snaps his own head away from Taemin's direction, rummaging through his drawer for a t-shirt that would fit. Taemin jumps onto his bed, sitting against the headboard as he settles inside his comforter.

He follows Jongin's movements as he shrugs off his hoodie and puts on the shirt he found in Taemin's drawer. His eyes trace each swell and dip of Jongin's muscles, with both envy and appreciation. It may be because they see each other too often, but Taemin never really noticed just how attractive his best friend is. He  _ knows _ , somewhere in the back of his mind, that Jongin is good-looking—but this fact has never hit him as hard as it does right now.

It's amazing how the scrawny boy he met in the practice rooms ten years ago turned into this gorgeous man that practically oozes sex appeal.

"Where do you keep the spare mattress?" Jongin's voice takes him back to reality, where Jongin is already fully dressed and ready to sleep. His face is oddly flushed—his cheeks tinged with red as he stands over the bed.

"It's not in the usual place?" he asks, confused. His mom might have put it away somewhere, but he wouldn't know where that is. Taking Jongin's sleepy face into consideration, he scoots over to one side of the bed, pulling up the comforter in invitation. "Well. Just sleep here."

Jongin stills for a moment.

"...With you?" Jongin asks incredulously, as if he can't believe something.

Taemin lifts an eyebrow and crosses his arms. "Is that a problem?"

"No, it's just," Jongin finally moves and gets on the bed, lying down next to Taemin and tucking himself under the covers. "Never mind. It's nothing."

Chuckling, Taemin rolls over to his side so he can face Jongin. His cheeks are still tinged pink, and he looks hesitant, instead of comfortable.

"I'm not going to eat you, I swear," he says playfully, grinning.

Jongin's lips curve into a crooked smirk, despite the blush adorning his face. "I'm not so sure about that, with the way you were staring at me earlier."

"You stared at me  _ first _ , it's only right to...return the favor." Taemin hits him across the chest, cheeks flushed after getting caught. He honestly thought Jongin didn't notice, since he didn't say anything. "Don't think I can't see how red your face is right now."

"Fair enough," Jongin pouts, rubbing the spot Taemin just abused, "If you don't touch me, I won't touch you."

"Deal," Taemin says, before pulling up the blanket and burying his head in his pillow. "Good night, Jonginnie."

"...Good night."

-

Taemin wakes up in the middle of the night—or dawn, or morning, he has no clue what time it is. It's dark, but that's because his blackout curtains are very effective, so he has no way of knowing if the sun has even risen yet.

All he knows is that he probably only slept for two hours, and something is trying to kick him off his own bed.

Rolling over to calm the disturbance and claim  _ his space _ , because it's  _ his bed _ , he finds that the source is none other than his current bed-mate, Jongin. Jongin is lying down closer than he thought— _ too close _ —and his long limbs are sprawled all across the bed. What makes it even worse is that he just  _ won't stop moving _ , tossing and turning, messing up the blankets and effectively kicking Taemin away.

Annoyed, Taemin grabs Jongin by the waist and pulls himself closer, resolved to use all his power to hold him still.

Oddly enough, Jongin stops moving as soon as Taemin's hand touches him. It takes zero effort to keep him from kicking Taemin away; he's even  _ snuggling into him _ instead, despite being pretty much unconscious.

Sighing, he closes his eyes, to try and get back to sleep.

Snuggling is  _ fine _ . It's warm, comfortable, and Jongin is really cuddly. It's adorable.

No—Jongin isn't  _ adorable _ —his brain never produced that thought. He  _ is _ cute, though. Sometimes.

Like right now.

Amidst all the hazy thoughts, he falls back asleep.

-

Jongin wakes up to the sound of his alarm. It's blaring through the room from his phone, which must be around him  _ somewhere _ . He tries to roll over so he can grab it—and turn it  _ off _ , it's  _ so early _ —only to realize that he  _ can't move _ .

He feels the weight of someone's— _ Taemin's _ —arm on his waist first, and it finally dawns on him. The reason he can't move is because Taemin is holding him— _ holding  _ him—while also being practically sprawled on top of him.

Taemin's weight is preventing him from moving away, and he doesn't know how long they have been in this position. Maybe they have been nestled together like this the whole night, and he has no way of knowing because he was sleeping.  _ Unconscious _ .

Jongin doesn't want to think about what that—snuggling while  _ unconscious _ —entails.

He tries to extract himself from Taemin's hold, shifting as smoothly as he can to not rouse Taemin from his sleep, but of course, he fails.

"Stop moving," Taemin mumbles, half-asleep.

Jongin gently squeezes Taemin's arm and pushes, trying to get it off him. He doesn't budge.

"Taemin-ah, wake up," he coaxes gently, in hopes of untangling their bodies. "I have to go to work."

Instead of loosening his arms, Taemin snuggles closer. His arm's hold gets tighter while he entangles their legs together, mumbling something that sounds like  _ 'five minutes' _ .

It's hopeless.

Sighing, he ignores his alarm, lying as still as possible so his best friend can use him as a pillow. Or a teddy bear. Whatever works. Taemin seems happy at the lack of disturbance, shifting to nuzzle into Jongin's shoulder as if it's the warmest and most comfortable thing in the world.

His hand finds its way to the back of Taemin's head, fingers stroking through his soft hair. Taemin hums, clearly comfortable and content with this development, and Jongin resigns himself to his fate.

He's gonna be late.

He shouldn't have accepted Taemin's offer last night. If he had gone to sleep on the couch instead, he wouldn't be so distracted by having Taemin in his arms. Taemin is unusually soft and huggable and  _ endearing _ when he's sleeping.

Despite all his difficulties, Jongin really doesn't have the heart to wake him up.

Jongin absentmindedly traces his fingers down Taemin's spine, as he tries not to think about how much he wants this moment to last forever. He's doing this for the game.  _ Just _ for the game. Nothing else. He's  _ definitely _ not doing this because he recently realized that flirting around with Taemin feels like second nature—like they've been doing it forever. 

This game is really bad for his heart.

They've barely started and his heart is already beating ten times more irregular than usual. It doesn't help that he's also been noticing just how gorgeous Taemin really is, lately.

Just a month ago, he honestly wouldn't be lying here thinking about his attraction—he will admit it,  _ just this once _ —to his best friend. He's his  _ best friend _ for a reason; normal people don't typically feel this type of attraction towards your best friend. They could be lying in this same exact position of tangled limbs, and Jongin wouldn't hesitate to throw him off the bed even if he's risking the other man's wrath

Jongin isn't falling in love, though.

He may be a  _ little _ attracted to Taemin, but he's not falling in love. Thousands of people find Taemin attractive, and they're not in love with him.

_ He's not losing _ .

The loud ring of his second alarm snaps him out of his reverie. Taemin groans into his pillow—also known as Jongin's shoulder—in protest over the loud noise, and Jongin strokes his hair gently to soothe him.

"Taemin-ah, can you let me go?" Jongin says. "My manager's gonna be here any minute."

Taemin hums and groans.

"This is your fault," he mumbles into Jongin's shoulder, "Take responsibility."

Jongin halts. "What's my fault?"

"...You moved," Taemin explains without really explaining, his voice raspy from sleep.

"Then just let go of me so you can continue sleeping," Jongin sighs, tapping at the back of Taemin's neck, "Please, Taemin-ah? I have to go to work."

Taemin still doesn't budge.

There's no other choice. Jongin has to play his last card.

"I hear footsteps, I think your mom is coming—"

Taemin comically lets go of him as if it burns. His movements are lightning fast; Jongin hasn't even finished talking when Taemin extricates himself from him and sits up on the bed, checking the door as if his mom would really walk in.

Jongin laughs while Taemin glares down at him in betrayal, realizing that he's been played.

"Your reaction is surprisingly fast for someone who's half-asleep."

Huffing, Taemin throws himself back down on the bed. "Yah. Why would you bring up my mom?"

"Good morning to you, too." Jongin smirks as he finally gets up. "If I knew you'd let go so quickly I would've brought her up ten minutes ago."

"Don't do that again." Taemin pouts, grabbing Jongin's pillow so he can squeeze his frustration off.

Jongin ignores him, ruffling his hair to put them back in place. "I'm borrowing your shower."

All Taemin does is roll messily onto his belly, burying his face in the pillow as he grumbles out his approval. Chuckling, Jongin heads to the ensuite bathroom and showers as quickly as possible. As he brushes his teeth a little later, the thought of walking out of the bathroom completely naked crosses his mind—just because he wants to see how Taemin will react. If he has to keep feeling bothered about how beautiful Taemin is, a counterattack is obviously justified.

He chickens out at the last minute, while drying himself. Not because he's embarrassed of his body, but because he's a decent person.

Plus, it's not like Taemin has never seen him naked before. They have shared dressing rooms, shower rooms, hell, they even bathed at the  _ hot springs _ together, and Taemin never reacted.

Except last night, when he so blatantly watched him change.

The tell-tale heat under his skin is coming back again. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Jongin puts the sleepwear he borrowed back on and walks out.

"Can I borrow a shirt?" Jongin says as casually as possible. He takes Taemin's loud hum as a yes and starts going through his closet.

"Can I just take whatever I want? You don't have gifts from fans here or anything right?"

"Nope," Taemin says. He groans as he sits up on the bed, yawning while rubbing his eyes. "Wear that turtleneck. I think it's in there somewhere."

"Your closet is  _ filled _ with turtlenecks," Jongin comments, rolling his eyes as he flips through the clothes. He's just complaining for the sake of it— Taemin doesn't even have to elaborate for him to know which one he's referring to. It doesn't take long for him to find it, a plain black turtleneck. It's one of Taemin's favorites; he doesn't wear it as much as his striped one, but he wears it often enough for Jongin to know that he likes it.

Pulling it out, he shows it to Taemin. "This one?"

Taemin glances at the shirt. "Yeah."

When Taemin redirects his gaze to his phone, checking his notifications, Jongin turns around and takes off his shirt to put on the turtleneck.

Then he sees it.

Taemin is watching him again.

With the corner of his eyes, Jongin can see Taemin's reflection in the mirror—his heavy stare scrutinizing Jongin from top to bottom. All he wants to do is pretend not to notice, but he can't do it. His face is probably flaming red already.

"It looks good on you."

Taemin's tone sounds so casual and nonchalant, that if he wasn't the only other person in the room, Jongin might have questioned the source of the piercing gaze that's currently burning holes into his skin.

Jongin's heart definitely  _ doesn't _ skip a beat at the compliment. He may be blushing, but his heart rate  _ isn't _ getting faster. It  _ isn't _ .

"Thanks," he says. He uses all his acting chops to come off as casual as possible, because he is  _ not _ supposed to feel self-conscious because his  _ best friend _ is staring at him.

Taemin gets up, suddenly, and starts walking towards the door.

"I'll grab you a paper bag for your stuff," he excuses as he walks out.

Jongin uses this chance to change as fast as he can while he cools down his nerves. Imagining that he has to get onstage in thirty seconds does the trick, and thankfully by the time Taemin comes back in he's already fully dressed.

He looks down at the Saint Laurent shopping bag Taemin brought over, smirking. "Fancy."

Taemin snorts and rolls his eyes, hovering around as Jongin throws his things into the bag. His phone lights up with a notification, telling him that the car is waiting downstairs.

"You have rehearsal today right?" Jongin asks, straightening up to his full height.

Taemin hums. "Yeah. Not this early, though. Should I walk you out?"

Jongin nods, and they exit the room together, heading towards the doorway. Taemin's family is nowhere in sight—even his dogs are surprisingly missing.

"They're walking the dogs," Taemin explains as if he read Jongin's mind. Jongin slips into his shoes and turns to face Taemin.

"I'll call you later," Jongin says, his hand reaching out to hold Taemin's squeezing it softly. Humming, Taemin shifts his palm and intertwines their fingers, before pulling him into a hug.

It's a normal hug, much like their usual interactions. Nothing special. Taemin pulls away after just a brief second with a pat on the back, just like normal.

Jongin thought that's where it would end. Just like normal.

Right after he pulls away, Taemin leans back in—further than  _ usual _ , he's close,  _ too close— _ and kisses him.

Straight on the lips.

Jongin freezes.

His mind shuts down and his heart is threatening to jump out of his ribcage— it's pounding  _ so hard _ he swears  _ Taemin _ can hear it.

Taemin's voice snaps him out of his daze. "You should go if you don't wanna be late."

Jongin doesn't know  _ when _ or  _ how _ but Taemin is already standing two steps away. The slight flush on his best friend's face goes unnoticed as he's still trying to figure out  _ what just happened. _

"Did you just—"

"You finished the coffee," Taemin justifies, looking away, his ears  _ completely _ red. "Now you should go. Isn't your manager waiting?"

Taemin has been blinking rapidly, a nervous habit he's had since a long time ago, something Jongin would have picked up on if he wasn't still in a bit of a shock. However, he isn't exactly in his right mind. He says goodbye and walks out of the apartment on autopilot, not even realizing that he's already sitting in the car until his manager checks on him from the driver's seat.

"Jongin, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Jongin breathes out, after what seems like forever. "Yeah. I'm okay."

His manager glances back through the rearview mirror, eyebrows scrunched. "Your face is really red, though. Tell me if you have a fever."

Jongin's hands fly straight to his face to cover it, unconsciously trying to cover up  _ any _ trace of  _ anything _ .

"No, no—I'm fine.  _ Very _ fine.  _ Nothing _ happened."

He's just glad his manager doesn't dwell on his weird actions and turns his focus back on the road instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Errrr... I got carried away with one date... This chapter is twice longer than the first one but only has one event... I'm sorry I promise the next chapter will have more variety!
> 
> I think this new development in their relationship is a little fast, but they've been best friends for SO LONG that there's little they haven't done with each other. If they want to 'win' they have to do something a little extreme, because normal actions won't shake things up 6v6
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feelings start to unravel.

Jongin hasn't seen Taemin in days. The texting and calling have been going on as normal, but he hasn't seen Taemin since the _not-a-date_ that ended with a rather flustering situation.

Since 'it' happened, Jongin had been stuck in rehearsals, the last spurt before the comeback period that starts in a few more days. Tonight is the only regular night he will have off for the next month; it's time to hang out with his friends before he starts ignoring them in favor for rehearsing his choreography.

In the end, Moonkyu is the only one who came on time. Kwonho suddenly had to work overtime—he'll join them later, probably—and who knows where the rest of the gang is. Too bad Taemin's in the middle of gearing up for his own comeback as well, finishing up with his music video filming and all that stuff, otherwise he would be here today.

It's quite a shame, but their promotion period happens to overlap for about a week, so at least they'll see each other at music shows later.

"How's the game going?" Moonkyu asks after the old lady who runs the restaurant walked away, leaving their meals on the table. They regularly come to her restaurant to eat, so she remembers them and always manages to clear off the second floor for them whenever they come.

Jongin still suspects that the lady doesn't know that they're _all_ idols—except for Kwonho, of course—but he really appreciates her preparation. They wouldn't be able to talk freely if they're surrounded by people who might have cameras on them.

"Good. Wanna guess what happened?" Jongin says as he piles some side dishes onto his plate. Although he's calmed down significantly, he still feels a little bit of heat creeping up the back of his neck when the memory of his and Taemin's last encounter crosses his mind.

"What?"

Moonkyu is obviously not expecting anything, reaching for his glass of water and drinking like normal. Jongin wonders how he'll react when he drops the bomb.

"Taemin kissed me."

Moonkyu chokes. He coughs, patting his chest while staring at Jongin in disbelief. "Seriously?"

Jongin nods.

"You okay?" He has to admit this reaction is quite satisfying, but he doesn't want his friend to die.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Moonkyu breathes out, visibly relieved he didn't choke to death. Lowering his voice, although it's rather unnecessary, he asks again. "So I heard that correctly? Taemin _kissed you_?"

"Yeah." The corners of Jongin's lips quirk up into a wry smile. " _Every single word_."

Noise from downstairs filters in, filling in the silence for a few moments.

Then Moonkyu starts laughing.

It starts with a snort, but not even a full second later, he bursts into full-blown laughter, barking out loud, practically banging on the table and clutching his stomach. Jongin doesn't know if he should laugh with Moonkyu or cry from embarrassment, so he resorts to being angry instead.

"Shut up," Jongin grumbles. "It's not funny."

"I just…" Moonkyu says in between laughs, his eyes tearing up from all the laughing. "How did it happen?"

Jongin explains, already regretting spilling this information. He tells him everything, from the random midnight date—that still _isn't_ an _actual_ date because it's for the game—to somehow waking up snuggled together, and finally, to the kiss in the morning.

Amused, Moonkyu hums, a little smirk forming on his lips. "Does this mean he's winning?"

Jongin blinks and avoids Moonkyu's eyes, feeling the now-familiar warmth rushing to his cheeks again.

"Definitely not. I'm getting back at him for this." He shoves some food into his mouth, if only to distract himself, and maybe to stop Moonkyu from asking questions.

"And how exactly are you doing that?" Moonkyu refuses to take the hint, unfortunately. "By kissing him back?"

It's Jongin's turn to choke. "Yah!"

Moonkyu waits for him to stop coughing, looking on with concern. Despite that, he doesn't change the topic, continuing with this discussion that Jongin does _not_ want to have.

"Actually, isn't your relationship progressing too fast?"

This person, who is supposed to be one of Jongin's best friends, just doesn't _stop talking_. Can't he see that Jongin's face is burning?

"We are not in a _relationship_."

"I mean, it's only been what? Two weeks? And you're kissing and sleeping together already? On the first date?" Moonkyu reaches for Jongin's hand, looking worried, but he knows better. He's definitely making fun of him. "You know, you can tell him if you're not ready."

Jongin's face heats up even _more_ . He never knew it was humanly possible—his blushing tendencies are already out of control lately and Moonkyu's teasing just makes things _worse_.

"God, please shut up." Jongin covers his face, burying it in his hands.

Moonkyu humors him this time, although he does start laughing again. He reaches for his phone and begins  typing something. Just as he put down his phone, Jongin's phone vibrates.

A sense of dread flows through his body.

Looking down at his phone, Jongin finds exactly what he's been dreading.

A notification. From _their_ group chat.

"...Did you just—"

Mooonkyu grins. "Yes. Yes I did."

**_Moonkyu_ **

_Taeminnie and Jonginnie congrats on the kiss!!! \\(^3^)/_

**_20:47_ **

**_Kwonho_ **

_What_

**_20:47_ **

Jongin stares at his phone as the group chats fills with messages. "Yah, Kim Moonkyu! Why did you tell everyone?"

"No secrets between us, remember?" Moonkyu doesn't even look up from his phone, scrolling down the chat room and typing, flooding it with even _more_ stuff.

Jongin hopes the _pain of betrayal_ is obvious from the way he's glaring at the man sitting across from him. His phone is vibrating _ceaselessly_ in his hand—Kwonho is supposed to be _working_ so _why_ is he spamming—and it's all thanks to him.

"Are you having fun?"

"Lots," Moonkyu answers curtly.

Jongin sighs. There's no stopping this, now that it's out in the group chat.

"You know Taemin will kill you when he reads this, right?"

Moonkyu laughs. "Nah, if anything, the first thing he'll do is hit you for blabbing."

Jongin nods immediately, because he's probably right.

"With his lips, that is. On yours."

Jongin's jaw drops in disbelief.

"Good thing he's busy right now, right?" Moonkyu continues with a grin, making kissy faces at him.

Jongin _really_ wants to hit him. _Really_.

He shakes his head. The chance for revenge will come, someday, but not today.

"I'm blocking all of you."

Moonkyu bursts into another fit of laughter, and Jongin doesn't even bother trying to stop him.

-

When Jongin's phone rings later that night, he doesn't even have to think before answering the call, humming into the mic to let the caller know he's listening.

It's three in the morning, maybe even four, and recently, only one person would call him at such an ungodly hour.

He wishes he could say he hates waking up at odd hours to answer calls, but he actually enjoys their mundane midnight conversations. He even makes the calls, sometimes. Just to avenge himself, of course—he refuses to be the only one getting startled by ringtones every night.

"Jonginnie, you awake?" Taemin's voice echoes in Jongin's silent dorm room, louder than he thought. Then he realizes that it's actually a video call—it's not _always_ a video call—so he pulls the phone away from his ear.

"Yah, you look scary." Taemin's on a bed, just lying there while holding his phone. Jongin buries his face back into his pillow, closing his eyes. "Were you sleeping?"

Jongin just hums, not even bothering to form actual words.

"I saw the group chat," Taemin continues. "I can't believe you told Moonkyu."

"...Didn't know he was gonna do that," Jongin mumbles, yawning. "Did you just get off work?"

"Yeah," Taemin yawns too, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. "So tired."

"Then why are you calling me? Go to sleep." Jongin rolls onto his stomach, phone propped up on a pillow next to him.

Taemin laughs. "We haven't talked all day. I missed you."

Jongin's drowsy mind doesn't dwell on the teasing tone of Taemin's voice, accepting the words pretty easily.

"...Missed you too," he whispers. He's probably coming off more sincere than usual—not that he's usually _insincere_ —because Taemin's eyes widen in surprise, just a little bit, when he hears him.

Just as sleep was about to claim Jongin for the second time that night, Taemin speaks up again.

"Were you having a good dream?"

Jongin takes his time to think about it. He doesn't actually remember his dream, but he knows it was nice and comfortable.

Taemin seems to take his silence as an answer and asks. "What was it about?"

Taemin was in it. Probably. It's a little fuzzy.

"...You."

Taemin freezes.

At first, Jongin thought that it was the Internet connection causing the video to freeze, but it actually isn't. Then he realizes exactly _what_ he just blurted out, and his cheeks start to heat up while Taemin giggles.

Jongin shifts onto his side and pulls his blanket over his head to block the noise, although he really just wants to hide his face.

"Jongin-ah, are you sweet-talking me in your sleep?" Taemin asks, his lips spreading into a really, really wide grin. "Should I be recording the call?"

Jongin peeks out of the blanket and huffs. Taemin looks decidedly tired, eyes drooping and half-open, but he's still laughing at Jongin anyway. He pouts.

"I'm not sleeping yet. I'm just sleepy. Can't I talk like this when I'm sleepy?"

Taemin stills for a moment, before he smiles at him. "Ah, you're so cute."

The words seem to roll off Taemin's tongue so easily—so _naturally_ —as if it's something he says everyday. He _doesn't_ say this everyday, however, so Jongin can't help but be surprised.

Taemin looks surprised, too. He probably didn't think he would actually _say_ those words.

"You think I'm cute?"

Jongin intended for the words to sound more playful, more of a jab towards Taemin's little slip-up, but no, his brain decided to make it sound _hopeful_.

It's not like he's expecting a compliment or anything, but he has to admit that _maybe_ he has just a _tiny_ bit of hope for Taemin to own up to the words that slipped out of his mouth. Jongin can already feel the disappointment building up at the possibility that Taemin will take it back, say it's a mistake, or whatever. It's kind of stupid.

His worries are unfounded, though. Taemin knows him better than anyone. He knows what Jongin wants to hear, and he won't intentionally hurt him.

"Yeah. The cutest."

Taemin still smiles at him through the screen, looking as sincere as ever. Jongin knows him better than anyone, too; he can usually spot it when Taemin's lying, or just saying whatever he wants, but there's no sign of that. Taemin's answer is as honest as it can be, and Jongin's face is _burning_.

He's not surprised, because Taemin has been making him blush quite a lot lately, but he _is_ quite satisfied when he sees that Taemin's face is just as red as his.

Suddenly, Jongin feels like it's important to bring up a certain topic to this conversation. He pulls his blanket higher, so only his eyes are visible.

"I'm not losing."

Taemin blinks. Then he laughs, his eyes turning into little crescents. "Yeah babe, I know."

"...I thought you were going to stop calling me babe?" Jongin's reaction is a bit slow—it took him about three seconds to catch the off-sounding word.

"So you prefer idiot?" Taemin retorts with a smug grin, referencing to his earlier decision to address him with the cursed nickname of 'idiot'.

No, Jongin does not prefer to be called idiot—especially not when Taemin fills the word with so much fondness.

It makes Jongin's heart threaten to jump out of his chest.

"Just stick to my name."

"Okay, Jonginnie. Your wish is my command," Taemin says teasingly. "Actually, doesn't Jonginnie count as a nickname?"

Jongin rolls his eyes inwardly, humming lazily. He really doesn't care about these nicknames; he will call Taemin whatever he wants whenever he wants. He rolls over a few times, trying to find a more comfortable position.

"Stop rolling over, I can't see you." Taemin complains. Jongin sniggers in response. Even though he's very sleepy at the moment, he shuffles and rolls a few more times, just to mess with Taemin.

He gets his desired reaction soon enough, because Taemin starts whining.

"If you don't stop, I swear I won't stop calling you babe."

He's even threatening him now. How amusing.

"I won't stop even if we're on broadcast... And I'll scream it at you during SMTOWN too, just watch—"

"You won't dare," Jongin stops rolling and cuts Taemin off before he makes more threats he can't follow through with. He chuckles and fixes the camera angle, lying down on his side. "Stop talking. Go to sleep."

"You go to sleep first," Taemin argues with a little pout.

Jongin scoffs and raises his eyebrows. "So you can sit there and watch me sleep?"

"Yep, I'll record your noisy snoring and use it for blackmail."

Jongin pouts back at him. Honestly, he doesn't even care if Taemin records him sleeping. He just wants to close his eyes already.

Taemin shuffles around a bit while laughing at him softly. "I'm kidding, Jongin-ah. I'll doze off eventually."

"Fine. Remember to hang up. Night, Taemin-ah."

Taemin hums his agreement. "Good night, Jonginnie."

Jongin drifts back to sleep pretty quickly after that. He wakes up a couple hours later to a good morning text from Taemin, shooting him a reply right away with his own greetings. This type of texting has turned into a habit after doing it for a few weeks. He even feels kind of empty when the first thing he does after waking up _isn't_ texting Taemin.

**_Taeminnie_ **

_Ugh I'll be rehearsing all day_

_Come visit me when you're free <3 _

**_08:38_ **

Jongin ponders over his options for a bit. He'll be rehearsing too, for most of the day. He might as well escape to Taemin's practice room during lunch break.

It's literally just upstairs, anyway.

_Let's have lunch together then_

_What's with the heart emoji_

**_08:39_ **

**_Taeminnie_ **

_Jonginnie is the best <3 _

_And I just felt like sending emojis is that wrong_

_Gtg see you later_

_ <3 _

**_08:40_ **

-

Days pass by very quickly.

Without realizing, it has been a little over two months since Taemin started playing the game with Jongin.

Taemin learned so many new things about Jongin. He didn't even think he would learn anything new because he knows _everything_ already—but there were so many little habits Taemin never knew existed, like the slow spread of red from his cheeks down to his neck when he blushes, or the lilt of his voice when he says sweet, flirty lines that didn't come out from a script.

Out of all the things he learned in the past couple of months, though, Taemin certainly never expected to learn just how _well_ Jongin's lips fit against his. It used to be something unimaginable.

Now he can certainly imagine it, but it's still indescribable. Beyond words. If he absolutely _has_ to come up with something, all he can come up with is the word _perfect_.

The first time he kissed Jongin, he did it out of pure impulse, plus a streak of competitiveness. All he wanted to do was fluster Jongin, make him blush a little. He didn't expect to actually _like_ kissing him.

The second time, though, was very much intentional. Unplanned, but intentional.

Stressed about his imminent solo comeback, Taemin locked himself in a dance studio much too big just for himself, repeating his choreography for the hundredth time. Jongin was smack in the middle of his promotion period, which means he was _extremely_ busy, but he still came to keep him company at three in the morning after finishing his own schedules. It was touching, but Jongin had done this in the past too, just popping in unannounced sometimes, so he didn't think much of it at the time.

Like always, Jongin went on to do his own thing, just silently watching Taemin perfect his posture and repeat sections over and over, until he slips on his own sweat and falls, too exhausted to maintain his balance.

Taemin had never seen Jongin get to his feet so fast.

Jongin crossed the room in lightning speed, fear and worry etched on his face as he checks on every single part of Taemin's body that could be broken from the fall. He kept repeating things like _'what would you do if this happened while I wasn't here'_ and _'this is why you shouldn't practice alone, idiot'_ while checking, and despite Taemin's insistence about _being absolutely fine_ , the concerned look in Jongin's eyes never faded away.

So much adoration welled up in Taemin's heart—it felt like it was bursting at the seams.

His exhausted mind didn't even think twice before leaning in for the kiss. The fact that he was kissing Jongin again didn't register in his mind until Jongin started kissing back.

It felt like it lasted forever. There were more lingering feelings involved, feelings Taemin immediately shoved to the back of his heart once he found them. He was grateful Jongin didn't push him away or asked questions after it was over, though. Unlike the first time, he didn't have an excuse for doing what he did, except that he just… wanted to.

The third time was the first kiss Jongin initiated. It was the day of Taemin's comeback stage—EXO was also performing for their last week of promotions—and it was _very_ risky, stolen in Taemin's dressing room right before they had to go onstage.

The door was _wide open_.

Literally _anyone_ could have walked in, whether it's junior artists coming in to greet him, or his staff coming back from wherever they went. Someone could have _seen_ them. In fact, someone probably _saw_ , they just didn't say anything.

Taemin still doesn't know how to feel about it, but Jongin had the nerve to laugh at his scandalized expression afterwards, whispering, _'Really? You've never thought of trying this before?'_

Taemin had—and _still_ has— _zero_ interest in Jongin's secret fantasies about kissing in dressing rooms, but the way Jongin gloated, perfectly happy to see Taemin panicking and getting annoyed, was maybe a _little_ interesting.

They shared more than a few other kisses in the span of time between the first time and today—they kiss almost every time they meet and he doesn't even remember all of them anymore, but the latest one is the most embarrassing one yet. It was just a few days ago. Jongin greeted him—with a kiss, obviously—when he walked into the _supposedly empty_ EXO dorm. They quickly found that it wasn't as empty as they thought, because as soon as their lips met, they hear something that suspiciously sounded like Baekhyun screeching in the background— _'oh god, my eyes!!!'_ —before scurrying away somewhere.

It was _mortifying_.

Now that he's thinking about it, it's actually really weird how quickly and naturally they integrated something as intimate as kissing into their routine. Their already touchy-feely hug-and-hold type of greeting has evolved into the hug- _kiss_ -and- _then_ -hold type in no time at all.

Jongin doesn't even blush anymore when they kiss. It's kind of annoying—and a little disappointing—because he likes seeing Jongin blush.

"What are you thinking about?"

The couch suddenly dips next to him, startling him from his thoughts. Jongin plops his head on his shoulder without a care as soon as he sits down properly. Taemin automatically shifts to accommodate the familiar weight and make them more comfortable.

"Oh, you're here."

Taemin didn't even hear Jongin arrive, too lost in thought. The small table in front of them now has a box of chicken—half and half, just how he likes it—along with two glasses and a bottle of soda, just waiting for them to start digging in.

Jongin shrugs. "Yeah, ran into your brother downstairs so I just walked in."

His dogs had followed Jongin into his room, taking the chance to bother their precious master. Eve jumps onto his lap, practically begging to be pet, while Adam circles around Jongin's feet.

Adam, this little traitor, has always liked Jongin better than him. He always turns into such a good kid in front of Jongin.

It's unfair.

"You okay, Taemin-ah?" Jongin asks. "You're spacing out."

Taemin forgets to answer, too busy watching Adam try to get Jongin's attention.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Jongin misunderstands his silence for something serious, lacing their fingers together, while delicately making circles on his palm with his thumb.

Taemin finally stops spacing out and squeezes their hands together. "Yeah, it's nothing. I was just thinking."

Jongin hums and nods.

"I brought us chicken," he gestures at the box on the table, as if it isn't obvious. "In case we get hungry later, you know."

"You're not eating it now?" Taemin teases, ruffling Jongin's hair, perfectly content with the grumble he receives from the younger man as he swats his hand away from his hair.

Eve, however, isn't as content as he is. The little dog barks in protest—probably complaining about why the big human on Taemin's shoulder is getting pet instead of the cute puppy on his lap—and jumps off after getting ignored for _so long_.

On the other hand, Adam doesn't give up as easily as Eve did in his search for affection. He makes use of his small frame to squeeze on the couch next to Jongin, nuzzling against his thigh and his unoccupied hand while whining at his favorite house guest.

Forever the dog-lover, of course Jongin can't resist the traitor's puppy eyes. Jongin immediately lets go of his hand and straightens his posture to lift the _cute little puppy_ onto his lap, petting and rubbing and _cooing_ at him.

Honestly, Taemin really wants to scoff at the predictability of the action, but when he shifts his head to really _look_ , he finds a sight so adorable he can't turn away.

_Shit._

"Can I kiss you?"

The words came out before he really had time to think about it, but what's done is done. Jongin heard him, loud and clear, proven by the way he turns his focus onto him instead of the dog in his hands.

With eyes full of amusement, Jongin _finally_ puts Adam on the floor and sends him away to play with Eve.

"Since when do you even ask?" he smirks, reaching out to run his hand through Taemin's currently-blonde locks.

"Since just now, I guess," Taemin answers, chuckling nervously.

His eyes end up wandering towards his two dogs, lazing around on his bed like it's their own, as he tries to forget his own embarrassing question. Jongin doesn't take it very well, turning Taemin's head gently to make him look into his eyes.

"Yes," Jongin breathes, and it takes a second for Taemin to process what he means by that.

"The answer. To your question," Jongin explains, and _there it is_ , the adorable faint blush that spreads through the apple of his cheeks. "It's  _yes_."

Jongin sits there and waits, to see how Taemin will react. A little wide-eyed, Taemin throws his hands over Jongin's shoulder, looping it around his neck as he leans in. Jongin might be pulling him closer, too, with the hand softly caressing his cheek, but he can't really tell who's doing what anymore once their lips meet. All he can do is revel in how perfect this is—enjoy this magnetic attraction between them.

It should be  _weird_. They're not even  _dating_ , they're  _best friends_.

It _isn't_ weird, though, and that's the problem. How confusing.

Taemin gasps when suddenly, Jongin's tongue licks across his bottom lip, and _wow_ , he sure takes the chance when he gets it, intertwining their tongues together as soon as he had access and exploring every inch of his mouth. His brain shuts down all his other senses; all he can feel is Jongin, _Jongin_ , and _more Jongin_ —Jongin's hair, Jongin's skin, Jongin's hands, Jongin's lips, Jongin's _tongue_ —and he can only conclude that this is a hundred times better than everything else they have done so far.

They should have done it sooner.

Taemin pulls away slightly, just to catch his breath and maybe put his mind back together a little bit, his teeth accidentally grazing on Jongin's bottom lip as he moves.

Jongin's hold reflexively tightens around him.

The hand on his back is pulling him back in, the action practically screaming at him to _do that again_.

Complying, he moves his lips against Jongin's again, but that _isn't it_ , that is _not_ what made him react so powerfully. Jongin urges him, moving closer, if that's even possible, and he _figures it out_.

He pulls back and intentionally grazes his teeth against Jongin's lip, gently biting and sucking it. The reaction is immediate—Jongin's hands wander from his back to his chest, curling and clenching on the front of his shirt. One of his hands continue roaming up towards his hair, tugging and pushing him to do _more_ , as he captures his lips again, and this is just… A lot.

If his words weren't already failing him, he would say it's  _really_ hot.

Normally, he would keep information like this in the back of his head. For blackmail. But he's not doing it this time. He's definitely keeping it to himself.

Just the thought of someone _else_ knowing that Jongin _likes this_ is already making his blood boil, for some reason.

"Taem…"

Jongin pulls away all of a sudden, as if he just realized what they're currently doing. He's breathing hard—they _both_ are—and he's looking at Taemin with half-lidded eyes, pupils dilated to the maximum.

He's stunning.

Taemin has seen Jongin in various situations that require him to be beautiful—that's their job, to perform and be beautiful—but  _this_ must be the most breathtakingly gorgeous Jongin he has ever seen. Looking at this mess of finger-tousled hair, swollen lips, and dark eyes, knowing that _he_ was the one responsible for it, is doing _wonders_ to his mind.

It's suddenly very difficult not to imagine this Jongin, the new Jongin he discovered, splayed out on a bed, underneath him panting and groaning and moaning his name.

He could also be on top of him—he could care less, he just wants _Jongin_ —but that's not the _point_.

_Shit._

No. He has to stop thinking. Shut down his imagination. Stop everything.

This is his  _best friend_. People don't think about _fucking their best friends_. It doesn't _work_ that way.

But then again, people don't generally make out with their best friends either.

 _Stop thinking._ This is so frustrating he wants to tear his own hair out.

Taemin ends up forcing himself to look away—it's such a simple action that is _extremely hard_ to do at this moment—and stares at the two dogs sleeping on his bed instead. He's sure his face is at least a little flushed, but he doesn't even care anymore.

He _refuses_ to care. He isn't going to _think_ about it.

"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I asked if I could kiss you."

He tries to play it cool, as he always does. Masking embarrassment with playful teasing always works. Kind of. It doesn't sound like teasing when you can't even _look_ at the object of your teasing. He glances at Jongin just in time to see a dejected expression on his face, which he schools back into a perfect mask of indifference just a split second later.

Taemin knows better than to fall for such a half-assed attempt. Jongin is probably second-guessing his previous actions in his head because of his words, so he takes them back almost immediately. The last thing he wants is for Jongin to _feel bad_ about this.

"It was good though. Perfect. Amazing. The best," he blabbers in his effort to ease Jongin's mind, his mouth running on autopilot. He doesn't even know what he's saying anymore. His face is boiling hot as he keeps spitting out words, compliments, good stuff, and Jongin is also starting to look uncomfortably embarrassed, but he just can't _stop talking_. "I mean. I loved it. Stop worrying."

"You _loved_ it?"

Jongin is trying _so hard_ to look unaffected, but Taemin has _eyes_ , he can see Jongin's frown morph into a smile.

A _very_ fond, satisfied smile.

Taemin blushes.

"You heard me. I'm not about to repeat myself," he rolls his eyes. He chooses to busy himself with the food and drinks on the table, left forgotten because they were too busy eating each other's faces off instead. "I'm not falling for your little trick."

"Right," More at ease, Jongin starts teasing back while bending over to help him pour some soda onto the empty glasses. "But you're falling for _me_ , aren't you?

Taemin coughs.

He would say 'no' but that would be a complete lie at this point, considering the direction his mind took just a few moments ago. He can't say 'yes' either, though, because that means he'd lose the game.

There's only one conclusion.

"You wish."

Taemin grins, satisfied to see Jongin yelling in protest.

When they finally can look at each other for more than a second, both of them snort and burst into laughter and giggles. Taemin honestly doesn't know what they're giggling about—the tension, the awkwardness, or just the whole situation in general—but now that they're laughing it all off, things feel normal again.

It's good, this way. Normal. Not confusing.

"You may eat your beloved chicken now," Taemin says, at the same exact moment Jongin starts reaching for a piece.

"Stop reading my mind," Jongin rolls his eyes, before munching on his chicken. He gestures his head towards the box. "You should eat too. Maybe I'll let you have that thing you _loved_ so much for dessert."

Taemin only sighs exasperatedly when Jongin shoots him a smug smirk. "Will you _please_ let that go."

"Never."

-

"You're glued to your phone again," Sehun plops down next to Jongin on the dressing room couch, nudging him with his elbow. They're having a dress rehearsal for their concert tomorrow, and everyone is just so _slow_ at getting their makeup done, so Jongin has been hanging out alone in an empty dressing room, after saying he needs to concentrate. "Texting Taemin?"

"No, he's busy." Despite his answer, his thumbs are actually sending rows of texts for Taemin anyway. He'll read it when he's free.

Sehun hums. "He went to Japan yesterday right?"

"Yeah, touring. He'll be gone for a while," Jongin says, not looking up from his phone.

"Won't you miss him?" Sehun continues asking without a care, but the question is getting a little weird, so Jongin finally shifts his head to look at Sehun properly.

"Sure, probably. But why are you asking me all these questions?"

Sehun shrugs, making himself more comfortable on the couch. "You guys are dating now, so things must be a bit different, right?"

If Jongin had water in his mouth, he would definitely spurt it all out.

Unfortunately, he doesn't, so he chokes on his saliva instead. He doesn't know which is worse.

"What? Who told you this?" Jongin hisses once he calms himself down.

Sehun rolls his eyes and shrugs again

"No offense, but maybe next time you should close the door properly before you start sucking face."

Jongin groans, burying his head in his hands.

"I saw you with my own two eyes. Backstage. A while ago. I thought I was seeing things, but Junmyeon told me he saw you go out for a date with him," Sehun continues talking. "I'm not judging your little PDA kink, but still. I never thought you would actually make out at the dorm with the door wide open. You never even told  _anyone_ that you guys were dating."

Well. Jongin was _so sure_ that he closed his bedroom door when Taemin came over two days ago—but that isn't really the point here.

"We're not dating."

Sehun's whole face scrunches up when he looks at Jongin, disbelief written all over it.

"Then… Is it just a casual thing? Friends with benefits, that kind of stuff?" Sehun asks, nodding. "Just. Please close the door next time. _Especially_ if you're gonna have sex."

Jongin coughs.

"No! It's not like that!" he denies vehemently. "It's just a game. We kinda got dared into it. We're not dating."

Sehun still looks entirely unconvinced, so Jongin ends up explaining everything. He spills almost every little detail about the game they're playing; the list of things they have to do, how they win, how long they've been doing it, and how far they've progressed.

"Sounds pretty much like dating to me," Sehun scoffs. "You guys spend all your free time together and make out all the time, and you say it's just a game?"

"We don't make out _all the time_ ," Jongin denies uselessly.

It's technically true, though. They've only made out twice—the second one just two days ago at their dorm, which Sehun happened to witness. It's not _all the time_.

Sehun shrugs and humors him, although it's obvious that he thinks it's a dumb explanation. "Well, then, if it's a game, how long are you playing?"

That's something Jongin hasn't really thought about. Well, he _did_ think about it, once or twice, but more along the lines of never wanting it to end.

Jongin shakes his head, after a long moment. "Probably just...until whenever it ends?"

"Does that mean you'll keep playing until one of you loses?" Sehun shakes his head, scoffing. "That's ridiculous."

"Ridiculous?"

Sehun stares at him as if he's dumb. "At least _one_ of you would fall in love with the other for the game to end. Haven't you thought of what that would do to your relationship? It makes no sense."

The thought has crossed his mind before. It usually comes up in the dark of the night, when he isn't exhausted enough to fall unconscious as soon as he hits the bed. He ignores these types of thoughts almost immediately, because it's a little scary.

The reason why he doesn't really want the game to end, is because their current relationship will definitely end with it. What they have right now won't exist anymore.

Jongin doesn't _want_  that to happen.

All the little things they do right now frustrate him as much as they make him happy—happier than he has been in a long time. Everything has permeated into his daily routine; calling Taemin every day and night, kissing him, touching him. He doesn't know if he can ever do this with anyone else, anyone who isn't Taemin, and he just can't imagine what it would do to him to lose all this, now that he's had the opportunity to _experience_ it.

It's too confusing, too frustrating. Frightening.

"Look, what if neither of you fall in love with the other?" Sehun continues, when Jongin doesn't answer his question. "What if Taemin falls in love with someone else, somewhere in the middle of you guys playing this game?"

It might not be what Sehun intended to do, but his question just hit Jongin right in the gut.

It hurts.

Jongin doesn't want to think about it. He refuses to imagine Taemin falling in love with someone else.

Someone who _isn't_ Jongin.

He swears he refuses to, but he does anyway. He sees images in his head—of Taemin smiling fondly at his phone while he talks to someone else, of Taemin touching someone else, hugging them tight, kissing them, maybe even singing them to sleep, and eventually leaving him to be with that other person—and he regrets imagining every single second of it, because now it feels like his heart is getting stabbed by a thousand knives.

No.

He knows Taemin. Better than anyone.

Taemin won't do something like that to him. Taemin won't hurt him.

_Taemin won't leave him._

Sehun suddenly starts panicking. "Shit, don't cry."

Jongin doesn't even realize that he has tears streaming down his face until Sehun shoves a towel on his face, patting away. He grabs the towel from the other's hands and covers his face, rubbing his tears away carefully.

"Shit. Sorry. I didn't know," Sehun apologizes, looking at Jongin a little awkwardly, after causing such a situation. "You're actually in love with him, aren't you? I'm sorry."

"No, I…" Jongin bites his lip and tries to actually think about it, for once, instead of denying it. The way his heart races in Taemin's presence, the irrational happiness and excitement he gets from seeing Taemin do even the smallest things, and especially that powerful surge of emotions he just felt—all of them point to one thing.

There's no other explanation for them, other than the simple fact that he's in love with Taemin.

The realization is _overwhelming_.

He can't even deny it anymore—the more he tries to form the words, the more it sounds like he's only convincing himself. Everything sounds _so fake_ , even in his own head.

"No, _I'm_ sorry," he manages to choke out, "I didn't know either. I didn't."

Sehun looks at him with sympathy, taking the now-wet towel from him and putting it aside.

"It's okay to be in love with him, you know."

Jongin lets out a long sigh, trying to calm himself down. "It's just—he's my _best friend_."

"Exactly," Sehun throws an arm behind him and pats his back. "I think he'll understand."

Jongin shakes his head.

"But it's all supposed to be a _game_ , and I…" Jongin takes a deep breath. "I... don't want it to be."

 _I love him_.

Voicing it out is harder than he thought. Those three words are echoing in his head, bouncing around as if it's trying to take all his attention, but he can't say it out loud.

"You can tell him and end the game," Sehun advises, leaning back against the couch. "Or not. Your choice."

That's right. Taemin doesn't have to know. Yet. Ever.

If he doesn't know, they can keep playing the game, and everything will be fine.

Everything will be fine. As long as Taemin _doesn't know_.

"I think you should tell him, though," Sehun continues. Jongin doesn't look him in the eye, but he's listening. "I may not know him as well as you do, but I don't think he's the type of person to do this kind of thing without any feelings involved."

Jongin frowns. "What are you saying?"

"What I'm saying," Sehun squeezes around his shoulder and whispers to his ear. "Is that he might be in love with you too. He either doesn't realize it yet, or he's just not telling you."

As soon as he finishes saying his piece, he gets up.

"Anyway. Sorry again. Join us outside when you're ready."

Sehun walks away, leaving Jongin stunned in the empty dressing room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry *hides*


	4. Chapter 4

For Jongin, realizing that he has fallen for Taemin doesn't make much of a difference.

Everything goes on as normal. His schedule still stays packed to the brim, he still hogs the practice room after everyone else left to perfect his spins and turns until dawn, and he's still glued to his phone 24/7, texting and calling Taemin whenever he has a chance.

Nothing really changed, especially not when it comes to their current relationship. Truthfully, it just feels like they've been dating for ages without even realizing.

If there's one thing that changed, it's the fact that he gets _so_ much more aware of how much he misses Taemin's presence.

The ocean separating the two of them at the moment suddenly feels so much bigger. Right now, and for the next couple of weeks, Jongin can't just call Taemin and ask him to come over anytime they're free. He can't see him everyday, he can't sneak his way into his bed to cuddle before sleeping, and he can't physically touch him.

It makes Jongin suffer from longing just a tiny bit; although this 'tiny bit' has costed him a few mistakes during rehearsals from all the daydreaming he does, and more than a couple of _real_ dreams involving his best friend when he's actually sleeping. Most of them are sweet dreams, but the few in between are slightly dirtier in nature—he's not getting into that right now.

Scratching his head, he enters his bedroom and changes into his pajamas. It's three in the morning, and everyone's probably resting except for him, because he just spent four extra hours in the practice room. Usually, he'd have company—or keep someone else company, and by that someone else he means Taemin—but well, Taemin isn't around. The walk home honestly felt a little lonely tonight.

After changing, he finally settles under his blankets and grabs his phone. He hasn't checked his messages all day. His schedule was super hectic; he entrusted his phone to his manager because it was running out of battery and didn't get it back until rehearsal was over. By then, he already had to concentrate on nitpicking his own posture on the mirror, so he didn't touch the phone.

Now that he's checking it, as expected, he has a lot of texts from Taemin.

He can't help but smile as he scrolls down to read all the unread messages. Taemin's schedule in Japan is much more relaxed than his usual schedule in Korea; he actually gets time to go out, explore, and sleep.

Taemin doesn't actually go to sleep though. Jongin will bet all his possessions that he still does his share of extra practice as well. He's a very hard worker.

Anyway, today Taemin sent Jongin a bunch of selfies in many different places. There's one in the practice room, one inside a record store—in front of the K-Pop cabinet, because Taemin is that nerd who likes seeing his own face on the shelves—and one in the car. There's even a picture of him on the streets, with a remarkably ugly stick figure doodle of another person next to him, an arrow connecting it with the handwritten _'this is you'_ above it.

Jongin rolls his eyes, but his grin is still spreading so wide, stretching from ear to ear as he scrolls.

Then he finds the last few messages, sent hours ago, along with another picture. Instead of a selfie—or a stupid picture with a stick figure—he sees Taemin's hand holding a brand new phone case. It's from a luxury brand, Jongin notices, and it has a huge teddy bear printed on the black background.

**_Taeminnie_ **

_Saw this at the department store_

_Reminded me of you so I bought it_

_I'll give it to you when I get back <3 _

**_19:47_ **

Oh. It's a gift.

Jongin didn't think his grin could get even wider, but it did. Happiness is surging inside of him from such a random gesture. The thought that the action could be fake—something Taemin is only doing because of the game—doesn't even cross his mind.

Without much thinking, he presses dial on Taemin's number, video calling him. He realizes belatedly that it's very late in the night already, but Taemin never sleeps early, so it should be alright. Probably.

Taemin picks up right after the second ring. Jongin almost lets out a sigh of relief.

"Hey," Taemin's voice reverberates in his empty room as a slightly blurry version of his face appears on Jongin's screen.

Taemin's sitting against the headboard of his bed, hair still slightly damp, looking like he just got out of the shower. Knowing Taemin, it really won't be surprising if he just got home after doing extra practice, just like Jongin. They're just _that_ similar to each other.

"Yah, did you just shower or something?" Jongin starts chuckling as soon as he voices out his non-standard greeting. Taemin chuckles, too, but he doesn't answer the question. The answer is probably yes.

Jongin hums and tries to find a more comfortable position. "Not sleeping yet?"

Taemin shakes his head and looks past the camera, flipping the phone to show the laptop he has propped on his lap. "I was reviewing. There's so much to fix."

When the camera flips back, Jongin's greeted by a disgruntled Taemin, who goes on to talk about the supposedly bad rehearsal he had today. The morning rehearsal was apparently fine, but the one at night was a disaster, or so he says, and it's not even anyone's fault, he's just unsatisfied with what he himself is doing.

Jongin knows the feeling. He can relate, as they're both crazy perfectionists, but he's sure that Taemin actually isn't doing as bad as he thinks he is.

Taemin continues letting out his complaints for the day, while Jongin just sits there, listening, and trying hard not to get distracted by the pout unconsciously forming on Taemin's lips as he speaks. He probably looks as lovesick as an idiot right now, but he doesn't care.

Taemin looks cute when he's talking a lot—and his legions of fans will probably agree with this opinion.

"What was that thing you sent?" Jongin changes the topic after a little while. As much as he loves watching Taemin talk, he also doesn't want him to be stressed out when it's time for him to rest. "You bought a phone case?"

Taemin's eyes widen, and he grins. "Yeah. We walked around at the department store earlier, because we were passing by after dinner, and I saw that. It's nice, right?"

"It is," Jongin answers honestly. "You sure you didn't buy it for yourself?"

Taemin laughs and shakes his head. "I don't use bear stuff. You're the one who does."

That's true. Jongin matches Taemin's laugh, and they end up giggling for no reason for a few seconds.

"Should I go back and buy another one?" Taemin thinks out loud, when his laughing subsides. "We'll match."

Yes.

Wait. No.

No, they shouldn't. People take pictures of them everywhere—they'll find out.

"Are you actually considering it? I was just kidding. It's not a very good idea," Taemin says, grinning. Jongin agrees, but the disappointment still creeps up to the back of his mind regardless. "Anyway. How was your day? Tired?"

"Same as always," Jongin says, shrugging as he tries to burrow himself in the blankets. He buries half of his face in his pillow, while checking the tiny monitor on the screen. The camera still catches his face. He looks okay, kind of cute.

He wonders if Taemin even _likes_ cute. He quickly shakes off the thought from his head.

"I have to wake up in like, three hours," he complains instead, pouting.

Taemin's eyebrows knit together. "And you're not sleeping yet?"

"Nope. Sleeping is a waste of time anyway."

Suddenly, Taemin starts laughing out loud. He's laughing so hard he's clutching his stomach, and Jongin wants to kiss him. Really badly.

"That's funny, coming from you," Taemin wheezes. "What happened to my lazy bear?"

_My._

Jongin doesn't know how intentional it was, but the way Taemin uses a possessive word when referring to him is making his cheeks heat up. His heart is pounding faster than usual, but he makes an effort to look nonchalant, rolling his eyes.

"I don't remember ever being _your_ lazy bear."

Taemin just laughs it off, and even continues on for a while—Jongin is too busy admiring his smile to tell him to stop.

"Your face is going to be swollen in the morning if you don't sleep," Taemin chides suddenly, after he's done laughing.

Jongin lightly shakes his head, the corners of his lips quirking into a lopsided grin. "It's fine. I'll fall asleep eventually."

And that's exactly what happens.

The two of them just kept talking and the next thing he knows, it's already morning. Jongin only knew it was time to wake up because his manager shook him awake and started dragging him into the car in his pajamas.

Once he's inside the car, he checks his phone. Taemin seems to have fallen asleep later than he did, since he doesn't remember hanging up on the call.

**_Taeminnie_ **

_Good night_

_Sweet dreams_

**_04:37_ **

The last text is time stamped much later than the other two. Somehow, as he reads it, Jongin pictures a Taemin who is warm and comfortable under his blankets but unable to sleep no matter what.

**_Taeminnie_ **

_I miss you_

**_05:25_ **

Jongin misses him too. A lot.

He clenches his fist tighter on his phone. Ever since he knew about his own feelings, he's been telling himself he shouldn't hope for too much. Don't do anything weird, be normal, and keep going.

But with Taemin acting like this, it's really hard to keep pretending everything's normal. He can't help but start hoping, just a little bit, that Taemin feels the same way he does.

There's nothing wrong with having a little hope, right?

-

**_Jongin_ **

_Congrats on finishing the tour_

_How was it?_

**_22:05_ **

Taemin looks down at his phone, unable to help a small smile from forming on his lips as he types a reply.

_It was fun_

_A lot of people came_

_Thanks for the flowers btw_

**_22:06_ **

This morning, Taemin had been pleasantly surprised to see a huge bouquet of flowers—red roses, all of them—waiting for him in the dressing room. It was beautiful, but the biggest surprise is when he finds out it was from Jongin, after reading the card that came with it.

The message was standard—it just said congratulations and a couple other safe but cheesy lines Jongin likes to say on broadcast—but that doesn't even bother him because the gesture itself, Jongin sending him flowers, is already non-standard.

Jongin is very similar to him, usually having no tact when it comes to sending things to friends and colleagues. He even forgets to congratulate Taemin on his comeback most of the time, so the last thing Taemin expected was Jongin actually sending him a whole bouquet.

He gets startled out of his thoughts when his phone vibrates again in his hands.

**_Jongin_ **

_Did you like it?_

**_22:07_ **

_Loved it_

_It's beautiful_

_Thanks <3 _

**_22:07_ **

He thought it over countless times, even though he only had a split second, but in the end, he decides to include the heart emoji. Again.

Little urges to include cheesy things like this have been popping into his mind recently, though it's not like he's putting in the effort to keep the thoughts out.

**_Jongin_ **

_Got it_

_I'll send you more next time_

_Still have to make you lose after all_

**_22:08_ **

Taemin can already picture the smug grin on Jongin's face as he types up the words on his screen. So annoying. If Jongin was next to him right now, he'll probably get a punch or something already.

Or maybe a kiss. In their current situation, probably a kiss.

"Texting your girlfriend?"

Rino, his performance director for the concert, calls Taemin out from the little pink world he has been in since he got Jongin's text. If it weren't for her, Taemin would probably forget that he's in the middle of a staff after-party—that he's currently surrounded by a bunch of people.

"No, no. Just a friend," Taemin waves his hand in front of his face for emphasis, quickly pocketing his phone. It vibrates in his pocket, probably from Jongin sending more texts, but he'll ignore it for now. He'll reply later.

"Stop lying, you looked _totally_ smitten," the older woman teases, nudging him with her elbow. "Still at the flirting stage? Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret."

Taemin doesn't know why, but for some reason, it feels like Rino is reading straight into his mind. He shakes his head. "No… We're—it's not like that at all."

"Is it the person who sent the flowers to the venue?" she probes again, the grin fixed on her face, "Whoever they are, they must like you a lot, to send so many flowers. And they're all red roses too."

That's true. What was Jongin thinking? Anyone with a little sense would know what red roses mean. Who on earth would send flowers that unmistakably expresses _love_ to someone they don't like?

But still. Jongin is just a friend.

A friend he's treating a little bit more special than others. A friend he treats almost like his boyfriend. It's just because of the game, though. Not because they're actually in a relationship. They're not in love. They were supposed to prove their friends wrong.

Taemin scoffs inwardly at the ideas he's been trying to feed himself with. One of these days, someone will call him out on his severe denial. His words sound so fake, even inside his own head. They sound even more fake when he thinks back to the kinds of thoughts that have been invading his mind lately, right as he's about to fall asleep, or when he's just daydreaming.

He keeps imagining all sorts of scenarios, futures near and far, and all of them involve Jongin in one way or another. His mind just can't seem to imagine a future without Jongin in it. He has imagined living alone at his own apartment, and eventually getting Jongin to move in with him. They'll bring all their dogs, and it will be a riot because they'll have _five dogs,_ but it will be fun.

He has also imagined going on a long-term vacation with Jongin, when they're no longer young, vigorous men who can dance twenty hours a day. They'll relax all day, cuddle, whatever. Other than these two instances, there's also that one time when he imagined coming home to Jongin's face everyday, even when neither of them get home until dawn.

One conclusion he has derived from all his daydreaming about Jongin is that spending forever with him doesn't sound bad at all.

It sounds comfortable. Easy. Perfect.

But it also sounds wrong, because right now, Jongin is just his best friend. Nothing more. He shouldn't even be thinking about something like this. His imaginations sound almost like _marriage_ and the implication of that has nothing to do with the word 'friends'.

The thought sends tiny prickles to his chest.

The truth is, even he knows that his feelings for Jongin run a little far from the 'friendly' territory. It's not even just a _little_ far, it's _very_ far.

He tries to ignore it, but he knows perfectly well that he's already in deep. For all he knows, he could have had feelings for Jongin for the past ten years, and he just never realized it. The game gave him an outlet to unleash all these repressed feelings and pull them out into the open.

It explains how effortless it is for him to act like this with Jongin. If it were anyone else, it may not have been this easy. And this is all good, but he doesn't know what to do.

He may know Jongin better than anyone, but there's no telling what he would do if he ever finds out.

Taemin shakes his head.

He's going to ignore his stupid feelings as he always does. He won't admit it, not to himself or anyone else, and just keep playing this game.

They're fine as they are now.

-

Jongin's energy has been brimming ever since he arrived in Hong Kong last night.

Realistically, he should be exhausted. He had just arrived on a long flight, and had a long schedule right before that long flight. Without any rest, since early this morning he's had a soundcheck, a rehearsal, and a lot of other tedious things that would tire him out in normal situations.

However, instead of wanting to go home and sleep, he's actually bouncing on his heels, unable to wait to go to this awards show that he doesn't really want to go to, because Taemin's going to be there today.

It feels like it's been forever since the last time he saw Taemin in person, not through a phone screen or a fan's camera lens. Jongin is really excited to spend some time with him, even if it means he has to sit through a boring awards show while being scrutinized by a thousand cameras.

He and his members end up being some of the last people to arrive at the venue. It's _so hard_ to play cool as he walks down the red carpet knowing that Taemin has probably arrived, and that they will see each other once he gets through all these reporters. Chanyeol keeps doing stupid things and making faces at him, and Jongin laughs for the older member and the camera, but all he really wants is for this to be over.

He wants to run to Taemin's waiting room and see him. Do things with him. Chat, or something. He doesn't really know what he wants to do, actually. Maybe he should think it over a little.

Finally, they get to the end of the little red carpet event. Smiling at photographers, check; answering meaningless questions from MCs, check.

Jongin can run backstage now.

No. Not yet. He needs to keep calm.

Jongin uses all his effort to school his expression into a well-practiced poker face, pretending to look cool, although he's gushing with excitement inside. Sehun is still laughing at him, which means he's still being too obvious, so he needs to calm down even more.

All his efforts are so easily thwarted once his eyes meet Taemin's from across the room.

His best friend is standing right by the entrance to the backstage area, dressed in a sleek, fitting all-black outfit—is that shirt _transparent,_ god—and a wide smile that makes him look even more gorgeous than he already is. Taemin isn't alone, he's surrounded by people, namely their close friends Sungwoon and Jimin, but Jongin's sight is so zeroed in on him and him alone that he doesn't even notice the other two's presence.

Suddenly, he feels an irrepressible urge to pull Taemin into his arms and never let go.

"Are you going there or coming with us?" Sehun asks next to him, in a deadpan voice. "Don't just stand there staring. There are cameras here."

Jongin blinks.

Right.

Realizing his feelings really doesn't do him any good, if it keeps getting him distracted like this.

"Jongin!"

Before he manages to walk over to the trio, Sungwoon is already bouncing over, arms spread wide open to give Jongin a hug. Jimin follows up with a weird little side hug, and they just end up getting into a weird three-way hug that only lasts around a second.

"It's been so long! You're always so busy now!" Sungwoon is very obviously excited about tonight—more excited than Jongin, which says a lot. He keeps rambling about things he's looking forward to; Jongin _tries_ to humor him, but his eyes keep flickering to the man standing behind his two friends, just smiling at him.

"Do I not get a hug?"

Taemin finally speaks, for the first time that night, and wow, Jongin really missed hearing his voice.

Would it look too eager if Jongin goes over and hugs him right away? He's not sure if he'll be able to let go after touching him.

That sounds really sappy.

Whatever.

He goes past Sungwoon and Jimin, taking the last few steps to close the distance between him and Taemin. It feels like time is suddenly slowing down when their hands reach for each other's, fingers interlacing. Jongin pulls him in, unable to wait any longer, and Taemin just chuckles, more than happy to oblige.

"I missed you," Taemin whispers into his ear, just low enough for him, and only him, to hear.

It's that phrase again.

The words remind him of that text Taemin sent him, days ago, at the break of dawn, but the warmth and feelings that surge within him is so much more compared to what he felt back then.

He really missed Taemin, too.

He doesn't manage a reply, but he clenches his fingers at the back of Taemin's suit, pulling him just slightly closer, and he hopes Taemin understands.

-

Jongin thinks Taemin _does_ understand, because he doesn't leave Jongin's side for the rest of the night unless absolutely necessary. His best friend even uses his 'senior artist privileges' to ignore seating arrangements, plopping down at the empty spot next to Jongin as soon as he comes back from his performance onstage.

"You were amazing," Jongin says, slinging an arm naturally around Taemin's shoulders, pulling him closer. He shamelessly ignores the sound of Sehun's unnatural coughing. He _knows_ the other man saw him drooling like some fangirl during Taemin's performance. He just hopes it's not captured on camera somewhere.

Why does Taemin always have to be half-naked when he performs anyway? Jongin doesn't understand. 

"Thanks. You're amazing too."

Jongin hasn't even performed yet, but he has worked hard, and Taemin knows that. He flushes a little at the compliment.

"Oh, you have a solo stage today, right?" Taemin continues as he shifts his position to face Jongin more, placing his hand on Jongin's thigh. "I'm looking forward to it."

Jongin swears that hand on his thigh is lingering far too long to be casual—even the way Taemin squeezes and strokes when he pulls away, instead of just lifting his hand, is very...un-casual.

Sehun definitely noticed everything, because his coughing is getting worse.

Jongin contemplates offering to take him to the hospital. Just to shut him up.

As the night goes on, Taemin gets even more touchy-feely than usual. Other than the random thigh-groping incident, there's also the almost unnoticeable grazing of fingers on his back, roaming a little too low under his waist to be friendly, but too high to be inappropriate. It happens multiple times, until Jongin actually has to leave for his own performance; which Taemin seems to enjoy, too, if all the jumping he can see from the stage is any indication.

Backstage, after Jongin's performance, Taemin meets him in his dressing room, congratulating him.

He was fixing his hair and drying the sweat from his body when his friend walks in, offering to help. Taemin ends up personally helping Jongin take off the uncomfortably itchy body chain he has wrapped around his torso, fingers grazing against bare skin, this time.

Their actions can't get more ambiguous than this. Everyone in the room—his members, stylists, everyone—is pretending they don't see anything, but Jongin knows better. They see everything. Always. Even the fact that his face is turning red.

Taemin continues making dumb excuses to touch him—as if he ever _needed_ any—after they leave the backstage area. He keeps saying Jongin's jacket is a little off and just goes ahead to fix it, his fingers accidentally tracing over Jongin's chest. His hand never seems to leave Jongin's shoulder—or his waist, or his arm—even as the two of them talk to their seniors, and as they walk back together at the end of the night, waving at the screaming fans around them.

Actually, all the excessive skinship isn't really something out of normal for the two of them. They are always like this every year, touching each other whenever they're near, as if there's some kind of magnet in their bodies.

Somehow, though, this year, it feels more special. Maybe it's because Jongin is now aware of his feelings, which makes him grow more conscious of every little thing they do together.

There's also the possibility that Taemin actually _is_ touching him more than usual, and he's not just being played by that tiny bit of hope in the back of his mind, but it's unlikely.

It's not really wise to keep on hoping for _more_ , when he knows perfectly well that this _thing_ they have going on isn't actually real. In the end, this is still a game, and he has no clue how much of it is acting versus something Taemin genuinely wants to do.

He needs to keep it together and not let too much of his real feelings slip out—although it's a little too late for that, probably.

Next to him, Taemin suddenly stops.

At first, Jongin was confused, but then after he looks behind his best friend, he finds that they are standing in front of his dressing room.

"I'll see you at the hotel?" Taemin's smaller hand linger in his, intertwining their fingers even though they're about to separate. "Or do you want to go back with me…?"

Taemin's eyes bore into Jongin's, showing a hint of _something_ behind a seemingly casual gaze—something Jongin can't figure out quite yet.

After some thinking, he shakes his head. He wants to go with him now, but it's not a good idea. Their staff already have separate arrangements for them, and he doesn't want to be that difficult artist who changes plans on a whim.

"I'll go to your room tonight, I promise," Jongin says instead, managing a little smile as he squeezes on Taemin's smaller hand. "Don't fall asleep on me."

Taemin lets out a tinkling laugh that crinkles his eyes just a little bit, and then pulls Jongin into a hug. One that is _way_ too brief for his liking.

When they pull away, Jongin notices the way Taemin's eyes flutter down to his lips, that _something_ slipping into his eyes again. But in a blink of an eye, that little flicker is gone, replaced by a gentle smile that stays on his face even as he lets go.

"I'll be waiting."

-

Taemin is _so tired._

He hasn't had a good rest for days now, with the concerts and the special rehearsals he managed to squeeze in just for this award show.

Now that the adrenaline rush from performing and receiving awards is gone, the exhaustion is starting to hit.

The first thing he does when he gets to his hotel room is take off his bowtie. Then he proceeds to take his suit jacket off, flinging it in the general direction of his suitcase before diving head-first onto the bed. The only reason he's even awake right now is because Jongin said he's coming, and because he has been wanting to spend time with him properly for ages.

The truth is, video calls and texts just aren't enough anymore once you've gotten used to all the warmth that comes from simply being together in the same space. He had such a hard time keeping himself grounded earlier in the night, trying not to get too carried away in such a public setting. He's glad the two of them are famous for being skinship kings when they're together, so he could get away with some things.

Now that they're going to spend time together in private, they'll have the leisure to do more stuff, although Taemin doesn't really have a plan for what _stuff_ to do.

Except for getting food and sleeping. And maybe some cuddling.

A makeout session doesn't sound bad either, if it ever comes to that.

Right as he starts unbuttoning his shirt to get more comfortable—it may be light and silky, but it's still very _stuffy—_ the doorbell rings.

Jongin's here.

Cracking his neck, Taemin slowly gets up from the bed and heads towards the door. Jongin shouldn't be kept waiting for too long, random people might see him and who knows what will happen.

"Hey," he greets with a smile once he opens the door for Jongin.

The state of Jongin's outfit isn't far from his own. It's obvious that he only returned to his room to shrug off his jacket and tie before heading over, as he's still wearing the same crisp white shirt he wore earlier, just untucked and unbuttoned. He didn't even bother taking his makeup off.

Taemin holds the door open just wide enough for Jongin to quickly slip inside, but the man makes no move to enter the room.

Jongin stands there with an unblinking stare, looking all dazed. His tongue seems to spontaneously flit out to lick his lower lip as his gaze travels downwards, unashamedly staring, and Taemin belatedly realizes one little thing.

The black shirt he's currently wearing is actually kind of transparent, and he isn't wearing anything else underneath.

Faced with this kind of situation, Taemin doesn't know what he should do. His cheeks are starting to heat up, and it's getting harder to resist the temptation to hide his face—or maybe his body—with his hands. Yet, he can't hide, because he doesn't want to seem _affected_ by Jongin's stare. That makes him look like he's losing.

Besides, he went half-naked for his performance earlier. Everyone in that arena saw everything, including Jongin, who was watching him perform. There's no reason to be ashamed.

In the end, he resorts to his go-to action, sidestepping the issue and teasing.

"You just gonna stare all night or are you coming in?" is what ends up coming out of his mouth.

Thankfully, that's all it takes to snap Jongin out of whatever he was thinking, as his friend finally stops standing around and enters the room. It won't do any good if someone happens to pass by in the hallway and sees them standing around like this.

Taemin quickly closes the door, assuming that Jongin is waiting behind him, but as soon as the door shuts, a soft grip on his wrist spins him around, exposing him to Jongin's taller figure.

The other man is in _very_ close proximity, making Taemin automatically try to take a half step backwards from the surprise. His back ends up hitting the door instead, leaving him with no escape—although it's not like he _wants_ to escape in the first place—and the next thing he knows, Jongin is kissing him.

It's brief and chaste, yet still as warm as he remembers. Jongin's hand lingers on his cheek after he pulls away, gazing down at him with a tender smile, and Taemin is suddenly reminded of how much he misses this. He gently places both of his hands on Jongin's cheeks and leans up to give him another peck, feeling the other's smile on his lips. Afterwards, Jongin leans down, letting their foreheads touch, the smile never leaving his face.

"Your eyeshadow is all smudged," Taemin comments uselessly, trying not to go cross-eyed from observing Jongin's face from up close. Jongin's breath is warm against his skin when he chuckles.

"So? Yours is smudged too. You look like a panda."

The moment is over too fast when Jongin finally pulls away, grinning as he walks further into the room like he owns it. He proceeds to throw himself onto the bed without a care—he seems quite comfortable, despite being in _someone else's_ room—and looks up at Taemin, who is still standing over the bed.

"You're not going to the after party?" Jongin asks curiously. Taemin simply shakes his head and climbs onto the bed, Jongin naturally shifting over to give him enough space.

"Not in the mood," he explains, his fingers moving to seek Jongin's, who takes even less than a split second to reciprocate the gesture and lace their fingers together.

With Jongin, little actions much like this one are very close to automatic. Their minds seem to just work together in sync, leaving no room for hesitation. People may even say their synchronization is _too_ seamless, but they've been like this for a long time, so neither of them care too much anymore. It's no longer special.

But nowadays, with a game like this going on and all the thoughts flooding his mind, this seamlessness makes even _Taemin_ question just how long they've been acting like this. No wonder their friends keep calling them a married couple.

Once again, he shakes it off, trying not to get too lost inside his own mind. Instead, he goes back to the conversation at hand, even though it's a touch too late. It's still fine. Jongin knows how slow his reaction time can be sometimes.

"Why? You want to go?"

Jongin shrugs, rustling the bed sheets as he does so, and squeezes Taemin's hand.

"If you're not going, then no."

Taemin chuckles. He appreciates the thought. "Good. I'm hungry, though, so can you order room service?"

He's not lying. His stomach has been rumbling in protest from the lack of feeding. The last time he ate something was _hours_ ago, before the show. This will sound a touch dramatic, but really, if he doesn't eat soon, he'll die.

"You're already ordering me around?" Jongin rolls his eyes, complaining half-heartedly. "I literally just got here."

Taemin just shrugs lazily, even though he's grinning inside. Jongin always complains at the start, but he'll end up doing whatever it is Taemin wants if it makes him happy.

Just like this stupid game they ended up playing. Going along with their friends' idea is both the best and worst decision Taemin has ever made, and he kind of regrets that Jongin didn't insist more on not wanting to do it.

Anyway, since he knows this tiny little fact about Jongin, it's only right for him to take advantage of it sometimes. Besides, it's not like it's one-sided. Taemin would do anything to make Jongin happy too, and they both know it.

Jongin gently lets go of his hand and rolls over to his side, propping his head on his elbow.

"I'm not doing it if I don't get anything," Jongin says, grinning playfully as he looks down into Taemin's eyes.

Taemin grins back. He doesn't even have to think before he reaches his free hand towards Jongin's cheek, pulling him down so he can meet him halfway. Their lips meet again for the third time in the past couple of minutes, before he pulls away and pats Jongin's cheek, smugly grinning at him. "Stop playing. Just do it already."

As expected, Jongin just laughs fondly and guides Taemin's hand off his cheek, patting on it gently before moving away towards the in-room dining menu and the phone. He watches for a bit as Jongin flips through the menu, biting his bottom lip as he tries to figure out what to order, unable to help his grin from turning into a softer smile.

If anyone sees him right now, they'll probably say he's in love. Smitten. Head over heels. All of which are probably true.

But again, he's not going to think about it. Thinking too much isn't good.

When Jongin starts reciting orders into the phone, Taemin takes the time to rest his eyes.

He keeps his eyes closed and listens to Jongin's voice, his steps on the carpet, and eventually the rustling of sheets when Jongin comes back to bed shortly after. He feels his legs being lifted onto what is probably Jongin's lap, and then he feels fingers on his feet, massaging them, carefully rolling his aching joints.

He sighs as all the tension leaves his muscles. It's been bothering him recently, because he's overworking them a little. He might have mentioned it to Jongin once or twice during their previous phone calls, he doesn't exactly remember, but he's happy that Jongin knows he needs it. He's really glad he has Jongin by his side, especially at times like this, when his more attentive side comes up to the surface.

Jongin is very gentle and caring, despite his cool image.

He's known that for a long time, but it's even more apparent now, after their friendship turned into...this. Whatever _this_ is. To prove it, Jongin's probably just as tired as Taemin currently is, if not more, yet he's still doing something as dull as massaging his feet.

That thought crosses his mind again, the one of spending forever with Jongin, just like this. To be honest, it's not even surprising anymore. It comes up as often as Jongin texts him, and Jongin texts him every single day.

That voice at the back of his mind is shouting at him, telling him that this only proves how deep his feelings for Jongin run. It's very persistent, and it's hard to ignore.

Maybe he should just admit it one of these days and be done with it. It will probably go away, then.

"I ordered a lot of stuff," Jongin says as he works his hands on Taemin's legs. "Knowing your appetite, just one or two dishes won't be enough."

"You wanna invite the others here too? We can have a feast," Taemin laughs, his eyes fluttering open to look at Jongin properly.

Unexpectedly, Jongin starts frowning.

What Taemin expected was a nonchalant shrug, or maybe a grin, because that's what Jongin usually does. The two hands formerly working on Taemin's legs suddenly stop moving.

"No, let's just…" Jongin pulls one of his hands off to run it through his own hair. "Let's leave them alone. They can go enjoy the party. That's what they told me they'd do, anyway."

Taemin looks up at his best friend, attempting to search his eyes, but Jongin is looking away, not meeting his gaze.

"You can go with them, you know," he says in all seriousness, unable to figure out Jongin's mind.

He's pulling the suggestion out of thin air, but maybe that's what Jongin actually wants to do. To go enjoy the party, celebrate his group's umpteenth grand award with the rest of his members.

It would probably be a lot more fun than staying in a quiet hotel room with an exhausted Taemin.

But Jongin shakes his head, negating Taemin's thoughts with a single action, as if he's reading them. He turns to look at Taemin, the frown still on his face.

"No, I want to be here. Not over there at the party," Jongin looks somehow offended. He looks down, not meeting Taemin's gaze as he says his next words, his fingers unconsciously clenching down on Taemin's leg as if he doesn't want to let go. "I'll stay here."

Jongin doesn't say it, not explicitly, but Taemin hears the implication behind the words. All Jongin wants is to stay with _him_ , even if they're just going to spend their time sprawled over a bed munching on room service food instead of celebrating at some party.

He doesn't know how sincere Jongin's words are, but it doesn't look like he's lying.

It makes Taemin's cheeks heat up, for some reason.

To cover his embarrassment, he pulls his legs away from Jongin's hold and crawls towards the top of the bed. "Well, then. We can watch a movie while we wait for food?"

Jongin blinks at him, as if he finally realizes that he's not getting thrown out, and finally the frown leaves his face. He chuckles and joins him in sitting against the headboard.

"Sure."

-

"Taemin-ah. Can you _please_ stop playing horror movies?"

After they devoured the food, somewhere around the ending of the first movie, Jongin took the tray away to leave it outside the room. He comes back with makeup remover—Taemin's makeup remover that he's basically _stealing_ shamelessly—tossing it towards Taemin once he was done with it. Now, with their bellies full and their faces makeup-free, they're just half-lying-half-sitting at the top of the bed, carelessly sprawled against each other.

When he was gone, though, Taemin had taken the liberty to play their second movie of the night.

It's a horror movie. The first one was, too, which is why Jongin's complaining.

Taemin laughs at Jongin's complaints but doesn't think much of it. His best friend has been cursing and grumbling for about three hours now, counting from the start of the first movie, since they're currently about twenty minutes into the current one.

"Well, it's my room, so..." Taemin just spits out whatever words he can think of. Unable to think of anything else, he avoids the request and shoots Jongin a teasing grin. "Why? Scared?"

In fact, the real reason behind this horror movie spree is simple. Taemin just wants to watch Jongin's reactions to it.

During the first movie, whenever he's not eating he finds himself watching Jongin more than the film playing on the screen. The little squirms, the cursing, and the full-body jolts; they're all so, so entertaining to watch.

Jongin also gets a little more clingy when he's watching horror. Always.

And Taemin secretly enjoys that. This little tidbit is actually part of his growing list named "Things Lee Taemin Will Never Admit Out Loud."

"I'm not scared," Jongin denies, but he doesn't buy it.

"Liar."

Really, though. Someone who isn't scared wouldn't be trying to discreetly hide under tons of pillows and blankets. Jongin shouldn't even bother hiding it.

He laughs and pats Jongin's cheek. "Just hug me if you're scared, babe."

Taemin gets a well-deserved punch on the side from Jongin, making him laugh even harder.

"Shut up. And stop it with the 'babe's," Jongin grumbles while pouting, even though he shifts just a tiny bit closer to Taemin, his cheeks tinged with red.

"Okay, okay," Taemin says. He's not done teasing, though. "It will be fine. Remember that _hyung_ is here to protect you, okay?"

He gets another weak punch, but he's not complaining.

When both of them finally manage to focus their attention back to the screen, the female character is starting to separate from her group. It's such a cliche. The ghost will probably appear from the back corner of the room she entered or something. Taemin can already predict how the rest of this movie is going to pan out.

Yep. He's correct. As soon as the camera moves over to that area, the ghost suddenly jumps out, turning the woman into a screaming mess. How predictable.

The weight that suddenly pounces on top of him while the lady screams her lungs out is also predictable. Kind of. It's not _unexpected,_ but only because Taemin has been waiting for it to happen for three hours.

Honestly, he thought it would happen much sooner.

Jongin clings to him like he's hanging for dear life, burying his face in the crook of his neck so he doesn't see anything. His breath is tickling his skin, and he's just _so close._ Taemin's heart is racing, and it's not because of the movie.

"Yah," he shifts his arm under Jongin's body and wraps it around his shoulder. He pretends to be calm as he taps a finger at Jongin's nape. "Move. I can't watch."

"You're not fooling anyone," Jongin puts his hand against Taemin's chest, right above his heart. He knows. "This is what you wanted, isn't it?"

Jongin's words reverberate against his neck, and Taemin suddenly feels a little nervous. "Maybe. You sure you're not moving?"

"I'll move if you change the movie," Jongin murmurs, sounding calmer than expected. "If not… Well."

"If not?"

"If not… I'll hit you." Jongin pulls back a little, his face just inches from Taemin's. A smirk is forming on his lips, and Taemin's throat suddenly feels way too dry.

"Yeah?" his voice cracks a little, but he hopes he sounds confident enough. He meets Jongin's intense stare head on, not yielding. "Go ahead. Try me."

Instead of pulling his hand up to start hitting him, Jongin runs it up his side, slowly moving across towards his chest. The thin, silky fabric of Taemin's shirt is the only thing stopping their skin from making contact, and Taemin prays and hopes that his heart isn't beating too fast again when Jongin's fingers flit across the topmost button of the shirt, slipping below to faintly trace his collarbone before resting at the curve of his neck.

It feels like forever has passed when Jongin finally leans down, capturing his lips and pulling him into a slow, sensuous kiss.

"Still not changing the movie?" Jongin murmurs against his lips. Taemin closes his eyes, not wanting to end up staring at the tempting, beautiful lips on the man he calls his best friend.

"Nope," Taemin breathes out. One corner of his lips quirks up as he returns the question. "Still not moving?"

His unfavorable answer gains him another kiss, and he's perfectly happy to oblige when Jongin licks into his mouth, letting him run his tongue inside him as much as he wants. Satisfied, Jongin pulls away and starts trailing butterfly kisses along his jaw.

"Since when did kissing become a synonym to hitting?" Taemin chuckles. Jongin is moving down towards his neck, sucking at his pulse; it tickles a little bit, but it also _feels good._

"Since you used horror movies as an excuse to make out with me," Jongin retorts, the vibrations tickling his skin, making Taemin laugh.

Well, that wasn't really his intention at first, but since it has come to this, he might as well enjoy it. He tilts his head to give Jongin better access, and Jongin welcomes it, grazing his teeth against his skin only to give it a soothing lick after. It's an unwise decision, really. With the way Jongin is going, his neck will definitely have some suspicious marks tomorrow morning.

Jongin's lips trail back upwards, just to peck at the corner of Taemin's mouth. "Are you going to change the movie now?"

Taemin chuckles.

"That's a funny question," Taemin chuckles. "The answer is… Definitely not."

He pulls Jongin in with the hand he has at the back of his neck, crashing their lips together once again. He wastes no time in capturing Jongin's lips, their kisses all messy and open-mouthed, tongues intertwining in an attempt to _melt_ into each other's mouths with an urgency that has never been there before.

Tugging Jongin's head away, Taemin kisses his way down the other's jaw, towards his neck, as he shifts his legs to let them spread just far enough for Jongin to comfortably kneel between his thighs. He can't believe just how fast Jongin picks up on the cue, moving to the position even without him saying anything. It's like they've done this countless times before, even though they haven't—just another part of the weird mind-synchronization that comes from spending too much time together.

The movie is still playing on the screen, but the dissonant chords of the background music and the creepy sound effects don't even register in Taemin's mind. All his focus is centered on the way Jongin is squeezing his thighs, his hands roaming up towards his bent knee and down again, as he sucks and bites and licks the sensitive skin at the curve of Jongin's neck. He continues down to his collarbone, leaving marks along the way and pushes even more, his lips exploring the wide chest he loves so much.

Taemin doesn't know what came over him; what came over _both_ of them.

It may be leftover adrenaline from the show, or it may be all his feelings and imagination coming to the forefront all at once. It may even be the simple fact that they're completely alone right now, no public watching, no roommates or family listening in just outside the door.

Suddenly, he just feels such a raw _need_ for more contact. He wants more skin, more touching, more Jongin, more, _more—_

He belatedly realizes just how far gone they are when their shirts are unbuttoned, just a shrug away from being thrown off somewhere off the bed, when he's finally running his hands along the golden skin that he has been wanting to touch since _forever._ Jongin is doing the same, his hands roaming along the bare skin of his sides, while he kisses his way down Taemin's neck, licking at the dip of his collarbone before biting and sucking more marks onto the light skin of his exposed chest.

This— _all_ of this—feels amazing.

It's so hard for Taemin to keep himself quiet. His lips are suffering so much abuse right now from how hard he's biting into them, to suppress the sounds threatening to come out of his mouth. He doesn't know when Jongin managed to grab the remote and turned off the TV—now the room is so quiet he can hear every single wet sound from their kisses.

This feels like everything he has imagined and _more._ He doesn't want to stop. Ever.

Despite that, Taemin can't help but wonder if they're going too far.

He can't think too much right now, not when Jongin is doing _things_ to him—his hands roaming all over his body, making him feel _so good_ he can hardly breathe—but he knows that for him, at least, there is absolutely nothing _casual_ about this. He can't even mask it under the pretense of a game anymore. If this was someone else instead of Jongin, Taemin would have shoved them away a long time ago, game or no game.

He doesn't know how Jongin feels, though. Maybe he's just getting caught up in the heat of the moment.

Maybe, for Jongin, all of this means nothing.

Unexpectedly, this fleeting thought brings so much pain to his chest that it catches him off guard.

He doesn't mean to, but he freezes, only for a single moment.

Jongin notices almost immediately. The man pulls away and gently places both of his hands right under Taemin's jaw, his eyes filled with worry.

"...Are you okay?" Jongin's voice is quiet and hesitant as he asks. He looks afraid. Taemin can't do anything besides look into Jongin's eyes, and try to ignore his previous thoughts, because Jongin looks genuinely distraught.

He knows Jongin. And the Jongin he knows isn't the type of person to do this kind of thing casually.

He's not a mind-reader and he doesn't want to assume, but still.

No. Jongin wouldn't.

Taemin lets out a long, long sigh, and squeezes his eyes shut, trying to will all his desire away. He needs a clear head, and think about this properly. He keeps shoving everything to the back of his mind, which now proves to be a bad decision, because this wouldn't have happened if he thought this whole thing through.

This game is twisted. He knew this from the very beginning, but he still went along with it, because it was fun and easy.

But now, he realizes that it's not like that at all.

They're playing with _feelings_ here. Their own feelings, and each other's. They're also putting their friendship on the line—more than ten years of friendship, which is worth more than anything he could think of—and if they don't handle this correctly, they'll be ruined forever.

This is all very wrong.

It's very wrong way of 'being together' with Jongin, even though it started off so comfortably. They can't do this forever.

No matter how much he wants them to be together, they can't do it like this. Not under the pretense of a stupid, twisted game. They really shouldn't have played in the first place, if it will just end up like this.

"Taemin-ah?"

Taemin wraps his arms around Jongin's waist and leans forward, resting his forehead on his shoulder. Jongin's hand naturally comes up to the back of his neck, soothingly stroking the ends of his hair as he waits.

"...Too far." His voice is hoarse when he finally speaks up. He clears his throat before continuing. "We're going way too far with this."

He pulls away to look Jongin in the eye, to see how he's reacting, but all he can see right now is confusion.

"I… This was _supposed_ to be a game," Taemin struggles to get the words out of his mouth, but he regrets saying it, not even a split second after. He suddenly forgets everything else he wanted to say.

Jongin's face has fallen, all his defenses down. Disappointment is written everywhere in his expression, and he looks so vulnerable, like he was one word away from breaking down. Jongin blinks, again and again, until he finally manages to school his facial muscles into a neutral expression. He pushes Taemin off of him, and moves back as if Taemin's skin is burning with flames.

Regrets flood through him, his mind suddenly getting overwhelmed with all the thoughts he repressed in the past. He shouldn't have stopped. He should have continued. He should have let Jongin do whatever he wanted. He should have—

"Is this all just a game to you?"

Now further away from Taemin than he was before, Jongin clenches and unclenches his fists, trying to find words to say. He doesn't seem to find anything else, yet he still isn't looking at Taemin, choosing to stare at his hands instead.

No. It's not a game anymore. That's why he stopped.

These are the words Taemin wants to say, but for some reason, he can't get his vocal cords to work. Why, just why, is his body failing him at the most crucial moment?

"I should have known," Jongin scoffs, muttering to himself when Taemin doesn't answer him fast enough. He turns his eyes towards the ceiling. He's about to cry—that's what he always does when he's going to cry—Taemin doesn't _want_ him to cry— "Why…"

Jongin trails off, never finishing his sentence. Instead of continuing, he blinks multiple times and shakes his head. Now, the tears that were threatening to fall out of his eyes are nowhere in sight.

"Let's just go to sleep. I have an early flight tomorrow," he says, still avoiding Taemin's eyes.

This hurts. This _all_ hurts. Jongin is hurt, Taemin is hurt, everyone is hurt.

All because of his stupid words. His stupid thoughts. His stupid _feelings._

Taemin shouldn't have let this happen. He could have prevented this. Why did he let this happen? He shouldn't have gotten stunned into silence. He shouldn't have been so stupid to get distracted by his own thoughts.

Jongin buttons his shirt back up and moves under the covers, with his back facing Taemin's side. It must be uncomfortable, sleeping in those clothes. Taemin would offer his clothes, but in this kind of situation, it's probably not appropriate.

But at least Jongin's not leaving.

Not yet.

He sighs and gets out of the bed, grabbing his sleepwear to change in the bathroom. On his way back, he turns off all the lights and climbs onto the bed, settling himself next to Jongin's unmoving figure. He stares at Jongin's back for a long, long time, mulling over his thoughts.

He has no idea if Jongin is already asleep, but even if he is, he'll just come out and say it.

"Jongin-ah," he murmurs, very quietly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. What I said… It doesn't mean what you think it meant."

The only sound he hears is Jongin's breathing. No response, nothing.

His hand unwittingly reaches out towards Jongin's back, wanting to touch him, but he stops at the last second, just an inch away. He sighs and clenches his fingers into a fist, bringing his arm back in towards his body.

He still can't voice out his real thoughts.

Inwardly, he curses at himself. He has never hated himself more than he currently does.

"I'm sorry, Jongin-ah," he whispers one last time, into the dark of the night.

-

Jongin barely got any sleep.

Even though his eyes were firmly shut, his mind kept tossing and turning through the night—or more like the past three hours, because it's _that_ early.

His alarm is ringing, loud and clear from the phone on the nightstand. He needs to get up, even though he didn't sleep at all, or he'll miss his flight. Shutting off his phone and putting it in his back pocket, he gets out of bed only to mindlessly walk towards the bathroom.

Once he sees his own reflection in the bathroom mirror, he almost wants to laugh at himself.

First of all, he looks incredibly sleepy. The dark circles are unmistakable, and the condition of his skin is just awful. As he drifts downwards, he sees all the red-purple bruises littering his skin, and the derisive scoff is already out of his mouth before he even knows it.

He can't believe he fell for it. All of it. Hook, line, and sinker.

He should have known. He told himself multiple times to not get his hopes up, and look what he did. He played right into the trap, and fell so deep he couldn't get out. What an idiot.

He splashes water on his face and slicks his hair back before finding a towel to dry off. He heard Taemin's words, last night. He knows what the other man said; he knows that it might just be a big misunderstanding.

However, if it doesn't mean what he thinks it does, what else could it be?

Jongin can't think of anything else, any other meaning to Taemin's words. Clearly, Taemin still thinks this is all a game. Jongin is the one who has been looking into his actions way too much, when for all he knows it could just be a casual, friendly gesture.

They really did take it way too far, this time.

At least Taemin knew where to stop. Jongin doesn't know what he would do if this whole thing ends after they cross a line they shouldn't have crossed. It would destroy him, destroy their friendship, and it would be unsalvageable.

Fixing his shirt and trying to make himself look at least presentable works a little in distracting him from his increasingly negative thoughts. Finally, he looks at the closed bathroom door, and lets out a long sigh. He grips the handle and opens the door, to face reality.

Right as he steps out of the bathroom, Taemin's voice sounds from behind him.

"You're leaving already?"

Taemin stares at him from his position at the bed, looking just as haggard as Jongin was five minutes ago. The marks he left on Taemin's body are even more prominent than the ones on his own neck, the color highly contrasting against his paler skin, and there's disappointment in his eyes, lurking behind his dark gaze.

Jongin decides to look away. He's not going to read too far into Taemin's actions. Not anymore.

"I told you I have an early flight," he replies, as coolly as possible.

In a flurry of movements, Taemin stumbles out of bed and approaches him. All Jongin wants right now is to run away, flee back home and never come out, but he's an idiot who ends up staying rooted to his spot until Taemin is only two steps away.

His best friend's—can he even still call him that?—dark circles are even clearer from such a close distance. Taemin looks tired, exhausted, like he hasn't had any sleep, but Jongin refuses to worry. At least not right now.

"Can't we talk first?" Taemin sounds hesitant, maybe even careful. He's evidently searching Jongin's face for clues. What could Taemin possibly find in his expression? Jongin has no idea.

"I'm in a hurry," he decides to say. It's the truth. He can't spare any more time—his manager will call him anytime soon.

Taemin insists. "I just… About last night—"

"It's okay. It's all just a game." Jongin cuts him off. He doesn't want to hear what Taemin has to say.

He's still hurting, and he doesn't want Taemin to twist the knife deeper. The better you know someone, the easier it is for you to hurt them, willingly or unwillingly, and nobody knows Jongin better than Taemin does.

Jongin doesn't want any more pain. He has had enough pain for a night.

Taemin starts blinking nervously, his words coming out as fast as a storm. "Jongin-ah. That's not what I meant, really—"

"No. Like I said, it's okay," Jongin says, as calmly as possible. "I actually think you're right. We went too far."

Taemin's eyes widen. His pupils are shaking, and he's biting his lips. Taemin probably already has an inkling of what Jongin's about to say. He looks almost scared, although Jongin doesn't know why.

Jongin takes a deep breath, and says his piece.

"Let's stop doing this."

Taemin stops looking at him. He looks down, suddenly finding the ground more interesting, and his bangs are covering his eyes. Jongin is unable to see his expression.

"...Why?" Taemin's voice is quiet and hoarse when he finally speaks.

He sounds broken. It confuses Jongin to no end. Shouldn't Taemin be happy right now? He just relieved him from the burden of acting out stupid things he doesn't have to do.

"There's no point. The only reason we did it is to prove everyone wrong," Jongin reasons, despite how hard it is to voice out these words. "We only did it to prove that we're not in love with each other. And clearly, we're not. Haven't we proven enough?"

He knows perfectly well that the words are coming out of his own mouth, but it really hurts to say it out loud. To lie to himself. To try to fool others with a dumb lie that wouldn't hold up.

His heart stings, and prickles start spreading through his palms. He clenches his fist to try to ignore the pain.

In front of him, Taemin seems to be stunned into silence. After what seems like forever, he finally hears Taemin scoff in front of him. Taemin's fists are curled against the fabric of his pants, clenching and unclenching around them multiple times.

All Jongin hears is him trying to control his breathing, inhaling and exhaling, as his fingers curl even tighter.

"Okay," Taemin says, finally. His voice cracks, and he clears his throat before continuing.

"Okay," he repeats, starting again. His voice is still shaky, but he continues. "You're right. It's only right to stop doing this if… if we're not in love with each other."

Taemin looks up for the first time in a while, and meets Jongin's gaze.

What Jongin sees in his eyes leaves him shaken. His eyes are glistening with unshed tears, which he blinks away almost immediately, turning into a cold gaze in no more than a second. This makes no sense. Taemin shouldn't look sad. Jongin's the one who should be sad right now. Just what did he say to make Taemin react like this?

"You should leave now," Taemin goes on tersely, turning away to walk back to the bed. "You'll miss your flight."

For some reason, Jongin is unable to move. His feet are frozen, unable to go forward or backward. He's still in a daze, thinking of what could have caused this. He can't quite figure out what it is about his words that hurt Taemin so much.

Somehow, Taemin senses this. He looks back one last time to snap him out of it, looking almost...angry?

"What are you standing around for?" he says. "Go. Leave."

Right. He has a flight to catch. His phone is vibrating in his pocket, his manager probably trying to find his whereabouts.

Silently, he turns and walks towards the door.

When he looks back, all he sees is Taemin's figure, sitting at the edge of the bed, facing away from him towards the window.

Taemin's back looks lonely, and Jongin's traitorous mind, who hasn't learned its lesson, decides to make him want to run over to hug the other man, smother him with soothing words, and apologize for whatever he did wrong.

He forces himself to turn away. He will not do this anymore. He's not going to overthink every little thing Taemin does.

A tiny voice at the back of his mind tells him he might regret it later.

He ignores it and walks out of the room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! This chapter ended up being twice longer than expected because the scenes in the beginning were supposed to be shown at the previous chapter lol. I just didn't end up putting them in because I wasn't done with them ;;
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much for reading! I'm sorry for putting these two babies in pain for a bit... Their happy ending is coming soon, I promise!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for all the people I made suffer in the last chapter. Enjoy!

For the first time in months, Taemin has a day off.

After Hong Kong, he had to go back to Japan to finish up a couple of things, before finally heading home for the rest of the year. Once he landed in his home country, he was ushered straight into the studio to record for next year's albums, and prepare for the joint shows at the end of the year.

He's had—and will still have—a bunch of activities to go to, but today, he can rest. Just one day to offset all the rehearsals and shows he will have to attend in the next couple of weeks.

Earlier in the day, while unpacking his suitcase and throwing dirty stuff into a pile in the corner of his room, he found the _thing._ The stupid _thing_ he bought out of impulse—the one he wants to return to the store but can't, because the store is in Japan.

And now, he's sitting on his bed, surrounded by clothes he had haphazardly thrown, just staring at a stupid phone case he regrets buying.

Maybe he should just use it himself. The fans will probably think it's cute.

But this phone case… It has a huge bear on the back. If it's a dog or a Pokemon or something it might still make sense for him to use it, but a bear? It's not even his favorite animal.

He throws himself back onto the bed, staring right up at the ceiling.

How did things turn out this way? Just a few weeks ago, they were happy. Really happy.

That night, if he didn't say anything—or if he chose his words more carefully—they probably would have gone straight to the finish line, instead of stopping in the middle. If he didn't say anything, right now, instead of ignoring each other, they'd be happily texting like giddy teenage girls.

And Jongin would be using this stupid phone case he's holding in his hand.

Oh well. It would have had to end someday, anyway.

Good thing he never admitted that he was losing. It would have been _so much more_ awkward to keep being friends with Jongin, if he knows that friendship isn't _all_ he wants from him.

It's better like this. To have things end, right before he could fully drown—because he's the only one in love.

Though it doesn't really make sense. If Jongin really didn't love him, he wouldn't have reacted so powerfully when he stopped them that night. Jongin shut him out almost immediately. They've known each other for so many years, but Jongin had never once shut him out completely like that.

He knows that he really messed up, somehow. That was why he wanted to _talk._ He wanted to explain himself—let Jongin know what he _really_ meant.

All he wanted to say was that it wasn't a game for him anymore, that he was actually _serious_ about everything. From the way Jongin was questioning him, he figured that was what triggered everything, but it looks like he read all the signals wrong. Jongin seemed to be completely fine with calling everything off in the morning. It was probably just… temporary shock for getting rejected halfway. Nothing more than that.

Even though it stings, it's not like he can blame him for not returning his feelings. For stating his version of the _truth._ For saying that they're not in love with each other. That's probably what Jongin thinks is true, because he doesn't even _know._

He scoffs. So much for 'knowing him better than he knows himself.' He doesn't even know this.

But still. They shouldn't keep ignoring each other like this. They're scheduled for the same shows in the next couple of weeks, and despite everything, they have been best friends for the past decade.

Something like _this_ shouldn't ruin his—their—most treasured friendship.

He needs to clear this up. He needs to fix things. Soon.

-

Taemin has been texting him.

Jongin hasn't responded to any of them, telling himself that he's too busy to do so, that he has better things to do than text people all day. He even turned off all notifications for the app, so he doesn't have to read any of the messages right when they come.

Technically, all of the excuses he's using for himself is valid. He's out of the country, and he has been performing concerts for three days in a row. He doesn't have the spare energy to do anything else.

However, the truth is he's just ignoring the texts. He may not have much energy left in his body, but he had _time_ to unlock his phone and read everything.

That's what he did. He read all of them—every single one, from the apologies to the requests to meet and talk. Religiously. Reading the texts is the last thing he does before he goes to bed, and also the first thing he does in the morning.

His read receipts are still on, so he knows Taemin can see that he's been reading his messages. Despite that, he never finds the courage to reply.

He feels horrible for doing this to him, but he's not ready. Taemin's reaction from that morning gave him so many unanswered questions. There's a lot of information he's missing and he knows that; he just doesn't _want_ to find out. He's afraid of how these answers will change things.

He still feels guilty for not giving Taemin a chance to explain. He regrets not listening to himself, for leaving despite knowing he will regret his decision.

He probably shouldn't feel this way—Taemin had hurt him _first,_ after all—but he can't help it. Taemin literally looked like he almost cried, back then, and Taemin _doesn't cry_.

Taemin has always been the 'strong guy' who never cries, except in very special occasions, or when it hurts just _that_ badly. _He_ caused this same guy to _almost_ cry, and that says a lot about how much he hurt him.

He can't keep doing this. There's only a few days left until their next schedule together—which happens to be on Christmas. The day all the couples in the country will come out on a date and have fun. They would have been planning the same thing if he didn't end the game. He chuckles wryly at the thought.

With a very long sigh, he finally opens the chat and types a reply. It's only one word, but that's all he can manage right now.

_Okay_

**_02:48_ **

-

The first thing Jongin discovers when he arrives backstage for the show is that they'll be sharing the waiting room with SHINee.

He's still not ready. Not ready to see Taemin, not ready to act like everything is normal just because there's a lot of people around them. So when he enters the huge room with the other members, he sighs in relief to find it empty.

Taemin hasn't arrived yet. It's all good. There's time to prepare.

It doesn't take long for all the staff members to run inside with all their supplies, preparing everything as if they're in a war zone. The managers start handing out cue sheets to everyone, while the stylists set out costumes on the racks and lay down their makeup tools on the dressing tables. One side of the room is left empty for SHINee's team to use, but looking over there just makes Jongin _even more_ nervous, because he knows who is going to be sitting there soon.

When everything is ready, he immediately gets dragged to one of the chairs facing the mirror by one of the stylists. He can't help but stare restlessly at the door through its reflection on the mirror, even when the staff were messing around with his hair and putting stuff on his face.

Taemin could be walking in there any minute now. Does he know that they're sharing a room? He probably does. There's no reason for him to not know. Even if he doesn't, he'll find out once he enters.

The moment he closes his eyes to let the makeup artist put eyeshadow on him, he hears a voice.

Taemin's voice.

It's just a hum, an answer to whatever topic someone was talking to him about, but it's unmistakably his voice.

The hustle and bustle continues behind him as more people fill inside the room, greeting each other. He's lucky he can't really open his eyes or stand up right now, since he's having his hair tugged around in multiple directions and who-knows-what dabbed on his eyes. If not, he wouldn't know what to do with himself.

"Ah, Taeminnie! I haven't seen you in a while," Junmyeon greets, his voice coming from right behind Jongin.

"Good to see you, hyung."

Taemin's voice sounds much closer than it was before, and Jongin is inwardly panicking.

He tries to keep his face from twitching—his stylist would _kill_ him for ruining the makeup—but his heart is pounding really fast. It's not slowing down at all.

He doesn't want to do this right now. He's _still_ not ready.

Way too soon, his stylist taps him, signaling him to open his eyes. Everything's done. He's all set.

Basically, he has no need to be sitting there with his eyes closed anymore—and he can no longer pretend to be unaware about Taemin's presence.

When Jongin opens his eyes, the first thing he sees is the other man's face, staring right at him through the mirror. He's standing behind him with a small smile—and oddly enough, that calms him down just a little bit. Giggling, the stylists leave his side to move elsewhere, effectively leaving him with Taemin.

"Hey," is all he manages to say.

He almost choked on the word, but he managed to make it sound okay. Calm. Unaffected. Fine.

He's fine. He's doing better than expected.

Taemin's eyes flicker for a bit, before he starts blinking. One of his hands is holding his own elbow on the other side, fingers digging into his skin awkwardly.

"Hey. It's...been a while," Taemin greets, after a few seconds of silence. "Merry Christmas."

Through the mirror, he observes Taemin's smile turning more nervous. Unsure. Like he's about to go on stage for the first time.

"Ah. Merry Christmas to you too," Jongin says, half a beat late.

Finally, he stands up from his chair and walks around it, to stand right in front of Taemin. They are only two steps away from each other, but the distance between them has never been so uncrossable.

Taemin clears his throat. "I… Can we talk? After…?"

Noises from all the things going on in the room fill the silence between them. He hears the sound of the hair dryers, the people all talking over each other, and the screeching of the metal hangers on the racks as people take out costumes.

Jongin has been thinking about this over and over in his head, yet he still doesn't know how he should respond.

In the end, all he can say is "Why?"

Taemin blinks. He looks away, avoiding Jongin's gaze, his hand coming up to scratch at his nape.

"I just… We should talk about this. Properly," Taemin says, his voice quiet compared to the rest of the sounds echoing through the room. "Obviously, not right now, because… you know, but we can't keep doing this. We're _friends._ Before anything else."

There's truth to his words. Taemin is still his friend. Even if Jongin's feelings for him run much deeper than that.

Honestly, he has no idea how he should feel about this.

"Okay," he sighs. "Okay. After the show."

This is the right thing to do. After this, they'll go back to normal. They'll be friends again. His chest stings a little at the thought, but it's okay.

It's better than nothing.

-

"Come in," Jongin says as he opens the door. Taemin had gone home first after the show, deciding it's better to just visit him at the dorm, and here they are. In Jongin's dorm, very late at night.

After seeing Taemin step over the threshold, he turns to walk back inside, trusting him to close the door. Taemin has been here often enough to know his way around; he doesn't need much guidance.

"Where's everyone?" Taemin says behind him. He sounds calm, and Jongin envies him.

He wishes he could be so relaxed, but he's standing there all nervous instead. Honestly, he's been thinking about this since he got home, worrying about every little possible thing that can happen.

He needed to prepare for the worst case scenario.

"Dunno. In their rooms?" he answers with a shrug, hoping he doesn't look too nervous—hoping his awkwardness doesn't show.

"Oh," is all Taemin says. He just follows behind Jongin silently, before suddenly calling out his name.

"Jongin."

He turns around to see Taemin with a hand stretched out, offering him a small gift bag stuffed with paper.

"Here," Taemin continues, shaking the hand holding the bag to make Jongin take it. "It's the thing I bought for you in Japan. I thought I should just… you know. Give it to you."

Hesitantly, Jongin takes the bag from Taemin's hand.

Under all the paper stuffing, he sees a phone case. A black phone case from a luxury brand, with a huge teddy bear printed on it. Just like the picture Taemin sent him, back when things hadn't turned into… this. Whatever _this_ is.

"What's this for?" Jongin can't help but ask. After all they have been through recently, the last thing Jongin expected to get from Taemin was a _gift._

"Well, it was for you anyway, so…" Taemin trails off, shrugging casually. Or at least it looked casual. Jongin doesn't really trust his own judgment anymore. Then he gives Jongin a small smile. "Just take it as a Christmas present. Can't I give my best friend a Christmas present?"

For some reason, Jongin's heart jolts at the words.

_Best friend._

He's not sure if it's from happiness, because Taemin still considers him his _best_ friend after everything, or if it's the opposite, because that's all he will ever be.

He accepts the gift anyway, murmuring a little _thanks,_ before he turns around to head towards the kitchen. The least he could do after accepting a present is to get Taemin something to drink.

"You can go to my room," Jongin says, glancing back at the man walking behind him. "I'll get you some water, then we can… talk."

Nodding, Taemin finally leaves, walking towards his room.

He sighs again as he opens the kitchen cabinet. Even rummaging around for clean mugs isn't making his nerves go away.

It's okay. He can do this. It will be alright.

He fills the two mugs with water and walks over to his room. Thankfully, Taemin didn't completely shut the door, so he could just kick it open and walk through. He doesn't have enough hands to open the door right now.

Taemin is sitting on his couch, just staring down at his phone blankly. Jongin stops in front of him, making him look up as he hands over one of the mugs.

"Thanks," Taemin says, before drinking some of the water and putting it aside. Jongin puts his own full mug—and the gift bag he almost forgot about—on the small side table next to the couch.

The silence that suddenly comes between them is like nothing they've ever experienced before. At least not with each other.

It's heavy. It's uncomfortable. It's… not good.

They have never been so unbearably silent when they're alone together. Even when they _are_ silent, it's never been awkward like this. It had always been the good type of silence; the type where they can focus on whatever they're doing, while having the comfort of knowing the other is there with them.

He's had enough of this discomfort.

"So," Jongin starts. "What did you want to talk about?"

His words ended up sounding a little blunt, but that's okay. Probably. They're here to talk anyway, not to give each other the silent treatment.

Taemin takes a deep breath and exhales before he starts speaking. They're not even looking at each other, but somehow, Jongin can still feel how tired Taemin is. His whole being is exuding weariness.

He has no idea what caused it and it makes him feel bad. They may not be on the best terms right now, but he's still not cold-hearted enough to not worry about his… best friend.

At times like this,he really hates himself for loving Taemin so much. Not knowing how to handle all these conflicting emotions frustrate him to no end.

"I've been thinking things over... and I just wanted to say I'm sorry," Taemin starts, after a long while. He's not looking at Jongin, but he's not looking at anything either. He's just staring out into the room, seeming to find an interesting spot on the wall across from them. "This all started because I pushed you into the game, and I… I shouldn't have done that. I should have thought about it a little more before agreeing. Or rejected it, just like you did at first. I… I'm sorry."

"That's it?" To tell the truth, Jongin feels a little disappointed. He expected more. Something else. Not just an apology for something that doesn't really matter. "You don't have to feel guilty about that. I decided to go along with it."

"Ah. I know. But still." Taemin is playing with his own hands, the nervous tick he never ended up getting rid of. His eyes are flickering around the room. He looks almost... scared. What happened to all the calmness he had when he walked through the door?

"And it's not like it was all bad. I had fun," Jongin adds, hoping that this would ease the tension a little bit. "I mean, it was fun, being with you. But in the end, none of it was real, so there's no point."

The moment that last bit came out of his mouth, he already regretted it. He needs to stop putting his foot in his mouth and stabbing himself in the heart with his own words.

All of a sudden, Taemin starts laughing.

Jongin turns his eyes towards his best friend. He has no idea what's so funny. But then, when he sees Taemin's expression, he realizes that he's laughing only because _nothing_ is funny.

Taemin may be laughing his lungs out, but he looks stressed out. Overwhelmed. Like he's on the verge of crying, but he's unable to cry, so he ends up just laughing like a maniac at the horrible situation.

"None of it was real?" Taemin chokes out, as his laughter subsides. "To think that all this time… I thought—I thought at least _some_ of it was real. I guess I was wrong. All this time."

Jongin furrows his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Taemin lets out a long sigh. He leans back against the couch and stares at the ceiling, even though there's nothing interesting up there.

"You know, I never lied to you, when we were playing the game," Taemin says. He stretches his hand up to block the light, casting shadows on his own face. "When I said I missed you, I really did miss you. When I told you I loved all that stuff you did for me, I was telling the truth, too. _Everything_ I said was truth. So how can you just say that _none_ of that was real?"

Taemin pauses, scoffing to himself as if he's in disbelief.

To be completely honest, he never expected the other man to say something like this. He _knew_ Taemin never lied—or at least he genuinely _hoped_ that his words weren't complete lies, at one point—but hearing him admit it, in response to his own stupid words, is making him feel a complicated mix of emotions that he can't really dissect right now.

"I have to tell you this. Like you said, it was fun. Spending time with you, doing all those things—it was really fun. If it were up to me, I wouldn't stop playing that dumb game. Ever. I wanted to keep doing all that stuff with you forever if I could."

Tiredly, Taemin pulls his hand down, placing it on his own lap.

He has no idea where Taemin is going with this. Nothing is going the way he expected—not that he expected much in the first place. He was prepared for explosive anger, or at least something similar, but this?

This is starting to sound like a confession. This makes _no sense._ At all.

"I think I got too serious. At some point, I stopped thinking of it as a game. But you see, back then, I realized I had to be realistic. As you said, it wasn't exactly 'real'—even if I wanted it to be. You know just as well as I do—if we didn't stop there, we would have gone much further than kissing. I…" Taemin trails off, smiling wryly.

"I couldn't do it. I'm sorry. I still don't know if this apology is what you were looking for, but I had to explain myself. I… just didn't think it was right to do something like that in such an unclear situation. Hell, I didn't even know what your intentions were until just now. So, I'm sorry. For—I don't know—pushing you away, I guess."

This really isn't how he expected the conversation to go. He can't tell what will happen next, and it's scary. What Taemin's expressing right now, it feels like…

Jongin has no idea how to explain it. The answer is already at the tip of his tongue, but he can't grasp the idea.

For the first time in a while, Taemin turns his head in his direction. When their eyes meet, he finally sees the multitude of expressions in Taemin's eyes. His eyebrows furrow as he studies every little detail—he sees sincerity, fear, and many other conflicting emotions. But in a blink of an eye, Taemin turns away, not allowing him to read him any longer.

"You're not talking. This feels weird," Taemin chuckles, although he doesn't sound happy. He just sounds awkward. Apprehensive. Afraid. "You don't have to think much of this. I just wanted to clear things up. Just so you know, I didn't actually want to stop doing… what we were doing. That night. But if it really wasn't 'real' like you said, then I don't regret stopping. I… didn't want to do it like that."

Jongin's eyes widen at the realization. All this time, he thought that he had crossed Taemin's bottom line—that he didn't want to take it too far because it was all just a game—but Taemin has basically refuted all his assumptions.

But then again, if this—what he assumed—is not the answer, then what is it? Why is this so hard to figure out?

"In the end of the day, we're just friends," Taemin continues rambling his thoughts away, his hands flailing around with every word. "Not that friends can't make out with each other and have sex—I'm not judging you if you think of wanting that with _your_ friends—but what I wanted... Am I talking too much?"

All Jongin can do is stare at Taemin blankly. It's like time has suddenly turned back to the previous minute or so, and now he can't move on from that one phrase, grasping at the hints of _something_ in the other's voice.

"You... didn't think of it as a game?"

Next to him, Taemin's figure stiffens. He looks down, his bangs covering his eyes with shadows.

"Yeah. No. How do I even answer this? I didn't. I stopped thinking of it as a game a while ago, probably. I don't know when. I even…" Taemin shakes his head, cutting himself off. He never ends up finishing that sentence. "Well. That doesn't matter now. You've made it clear enough, last time, that there's no point. After all, we're… not in love with each other. Right?"

When Jongin sees the sad smile on Taemin's lips, everything suddenly _clicks._

Memories of that morning flood through his mind. He relives the way he stands there in that hotel room, staring at Taemin's tense figure, but this time, he sees the pain in the other man's eyes.

The pain that surfaced after hearing _those words_ come out from his mouth.

_"We only did it to prove that we're not in love with each other. And clearly, we're not. Haven't we proven enough?"_

It all makes sense, now.

Back then, he was too focused on his own pain to notice that Taemin was just as affected as he was. Taemin didn't even hide anything from him. All his defenses were already down, and the implication of Jongin's words made it crumble completely.

He thought Jongin didn't love him.

That's it. That's the answer. Taemin must have thought that Jongin didn't love him as much as he did—or even the same way he did. The answer to everything is the one possibility he tried to ignore since the very beginning.

But what if he's wrong again…?

No. That must be it. There's nothing else left, except for this. There's no other option.

"I…" His heart is practically beating out of his chest. He needs to explain himself, too, but he doesn't know how to put his words together right now. "That was a lie."

Taemin turns around. His eyes are wide—he looks surprised, and confused.

"What you thought I made clear…" Jongin clears his throat before continuing. His voice is starting to shake in all his nervousness, and he doesn't want to sound like that. "That. That was a lie. And what I said just now—the 'none of it was real' thing—that was a lie too. I'm sorry."

He scratches at the back of his head, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Taemin never lied to him, but he lied so many times. How shameful.

"Ah. What I mean to say is, everything I did, after a certain point—or maybe even from the beginning—was all real." It takes Jongin all of his courage to admit all of this, while looking straight into Taemin's eyes, trying his best not to waver. "I didn't know you took everything seriously—I thought I was the only one who stopped thinking of it as a game. I was disappointed in you. Then I started thinking that we might as well just stop. Before it hurts even more."

The corners of Taemin's lips rise up into a wistful little smile. "It hurts a lot already, though."

"I know," he sighs. "And I'm sorry for not just… telling you all this. Now that I think about it, I probably should've done that, but I was scared. I thought you would... leave. If you found out."

Taemin doesn't say anything, continuing to look at him with a searching gaze. Jongin clenches his fists tight as he tries to let all his feelings show, to put down all the barriers that could prevent Taemin from seeing them.

Then, Taemin sighs. He doesn't know what the sigh means, but Taemin is breaking eye contact to stare at nothing again.

In the long, long silence that follows, Jongin is starting to think that he should also start staring at a random spot on the wall, or on the carpet. Trying to study each and every move Taemin makes is turning him more nervous than he should be.

He literally doesn't know what's going to come out of this. This night hasn't gone the way he expected, and despite being completely unprepared, he just let all his secrets out, except for _those words_ that he just can't seem to voice.

It's kind of a stupid decision, in a way. He doesn't even know if he has the correct answers this time. It's been _implied,_ sure, but it's not like Taemin confirmed it.

"Hey."

Taemin interrupts him from cursing his own stupidity in his mind, finally breaking the silence.

"Correct me if I'm wrong…" Taemin trails off hesitantly. His voice is shaking, and he's nervously looking at Jongin, but it's painfully obvious that he's trying.

He wants to grab him, gather him into his arms—protect him from all the painful things in the world. But he can't exactly do that, since _he's_ probably the most painful thing in Taemin's world right now. It's frustrating.

"Jongin-ah," Taemin starts again, his voice steadier, this time. "Tell me… Did we both lose?"

For a second, Jongin wonders what losing had to do with anything, but then he remembers.

_Whoever falls in love first loses._

This… is Taemin's confirmation. He's sure of it, this time.

Jongin isn't the only one feeling like this. He isn't the only one who _lost_ the game. His feelings are _reciprocated._ It's mutual.

This is really happening. His heart starts pounding faster. The heat is spreading from his chest, going through his veins, and he can't stop it.

Taemin still stares into his eyes, unblinking. He's waiting for an answer—one that Jongin _needs_ to give him, right now. He needs to relieve Taemin of all the nervousness in his eyes.

"Yeah," Jongin breathes, as quickly as he could. It's the only word he knows how to say, right now. It might not sound very clear, because his mind is spinning on overdrive, and he has no idea what he's doing.

He clears his throat and tries again. "Yeah. I think we both lost."

Taemin's eyes widen slightly, but he's not looking anywhere else. "Really? Are you sure you really know what I mean, this time?"

Jongin nods. He's sure. Very sure.

"And it's… not a lie?" Taemin questions again.

Jongin turns his whole body to fully face Taemin, raising one leg up onto the couch. This way, hopefully Taemin can see that he's being truthful about this. He's not hiding anything.

"Yeah," Jongin says for the third time in the past three minutes. He tries to make his voice sound as relaxed as possible, but it's not working. He's really nervous. More nervous than the time he had to perform his first big solo stage. "I'm not lying. I really think we both lost. Maybe we were already doomed to lose from the very beginning."

When Taemin doesn't say anything else in response, he adds. "Honestly, I think the game is impossible to win. Especially because the opponent is you."

He sends Taemin a smile, a completely open, honest, sincere smile; thankfully, that works, because now Taemin seems to believe him.

Looking much more relaxed, Taemin takes his hand off his thigh and puts it right by his side. His skin looks even fairer than it is, when placed against the black leather of Jongin's couch. It's entrancing.

"We'll have to pay each other a hundred bucks," Taemin murmurs, without looking at him.

Jongin follows his gaze, only to see that he's staring at his own hand. He huffs out a laugh. "Yeah, I guess we'll have to do that."

After staring at it for forever, Taemin moves his hand forward, slowly, until the tip of his fingers touch Jongin's.

The sensation startles him, even though he watched Taemin's every move right up to that point. In his dazed state, he realizes that he hasn't held Taemin's hand for weeks. That sounds like _such a long time._

Taemin stops, his hand not moving any further.

"Then… Wanna go for another round?"

Jongin looks up in confusion, only to see a completely serious expression on his best friend's face. He's waiting for him to make the move.

His eyes flicker between the hand and Taemin's face, trying to figure him out. "Another game?"

"No… Not a game," Taemin shakes his head, his eyes holding Jongin's captive. "I… want it to be _real,_ this time."

It takes him a while to process all this information.

He can't believe this is happening.

This is not a dream. Not a lie, and not an alternate reality he cooked up in his head.

Taemin is really asking him, right now, to do it all over again—but without all the pretense.

"Okay," Jongin says, maybe a little too eagerly. There's a lot of things he could have said, but this one word is the only one that manages to come out of his mouth.

He closes the rest of the distance between their hands, putting his own hand on top of Taemin's. His best friend—who also happens to be the love of his life, probably—is still looking at him, his eyes shining brightly.

This time, he doesn't see any pain in the pair of orbs staring back at him. He looks happy. Content. Beautiful. Gorgeous.

"But only if we don't ever have to stop playing," he adds lightly, after he has run out of adjectives to describe how beautiful the other man is in his mind.

"Never," Taemin finally lets out a relieved laugh, a giggle that Jongin hasn't heard in _forever,_ and moves to intertwine their fingers together. Just like they always do.

Jongin can't help but smile with him. His lips are stretching so wide that his cheeks are starting to hurt, but he still takes in every detail of this moment and stores it in the back of his mind, knowing that he will remember it fondly in the future.

-

After the show they attend together on New Year's Eve, Jongin follows Taemin home. Everyone in the backstage area and the parking lots are so busy that nobody notices Jongin slip inside the van with him and his members.

But then again, even if people notice, they probably won't think much of it. _Everyone_ knows that he and Jongin are joined at the hip, even from way back. It's not weird for them to go home together. That's one upside to secretly dating your best friend.

His manager drops them off at the building's entrance, way after midnight, shouting 'Happy New Year!' before driving off, and silently, Jongin follows him up to his apartment. It's late, so his parents are already asleep, but for some reason, Adam and Eve are awake.

His two puppies try to follow them into his bedroom—unfortunately for them, he doesn't want anything to disturb them tonight, so he locks the door right before they could get in. They can go disturb the others instead, just for tonight.

"Good thing my parents are asleep," he throws himself onto his bed, not even bothering to change out of his clothes. "You might have had to talk to my mom for at least another hour."

Jongin laughs heartily, looking down at him from where he's standing, next to the bed. "Well, your mom always tells me I'm more handsome than you."

Apparently, Jongin's reflexes are fast enough to dodge the kick he launched at him. Too bad. He grumbles and rolls over to his stomach, burying his face onto the mattress.

"Can I borrow a shirt?" Jongin pokes on the foot he used to kick, to get his attention. However, when he finally turns his head to take a look, he sees that his best-friend-slash-lover is already rummaging through his closet, picking out things to wear.

Truthfully, there's no point to Jongin's question. First of all, he already knows the answer is yes, and second, why is he asking for permission if he's just going to do it anyway? He shifts to a better position, lying down on his side propped on an elbow.

"Why do you even bother?"

Jongin stops when he hears Taemin's words, turning around to face him with one eyebrow raised.

"You want me to sleep shirtless instead?" Jongin says, his lips morphing into a smirk. "I can do that for you."

Taemin quickly feels his face heating up. It's not like Jongin never slept shirtless in front of him—but they're now officially in a _relationship._ It's different.

And it's only been a week since they re-started. They haven't done anything of _that_ sort. Not really.

"I meant why bother _asking,_ idiot. You already know the answer."

Jongin laughs again, and turns back to grab a shirt from his closet. He just starts stripping off right there, and Taemin can't even sigh properly because he's too busy admiring his boyfriend's back muscles. Jongin takes his dress pants off, too, and just climbs into bed like that, in his boxers, without bothering to find some pants.

"Are you going to sleep like this?" Jongin questions as he squeezes his way to the little space between Taemin and the edge of the bed, eyeing his still very dressy outfit.

Obviously, he's not going to sleep in a dress shirt and pants. He's just too lazy to move. His bed can be quite comfortable—especially if Jongin is also on it.

Then he remembers the words Jongin said earlier that made him flush red, and he decides to avenge himself. "Why? Offering to help me change?"

It's Jongin's turn to blush, and Taemin cheers for his victory in his head. Jongin doesn't get embarrassed quite as easily as when they first started playing the cursed game, so it's a win for him.

Suddenly, though, without saying anything, Jongin throws himself on top of him, carelessly dropping all his weight on his body. He guesses it's because Jongin can't find enough space to lie down comfortably.

Or maybe he just wants to cuddle.

"Yah, you're crushing me," Taemin complains, huffing half-heartedly.

Jongin's response is to wrap his whole body around his own like a koala, burying his face in his neck. His grip only gets tighter, not letting go at all, so he can only sigh and wrap his own arms around Jongin's waist.

Now that he knows Taemin isn't going anywhere, Jongin relaxes his hold a little. They lie down like that for a while, curled up together in silence, listening to each other's breathing.

For some reason, Jongin's figure in his arms is both comfortable and tensed up. There's something a little off about him that he can't really put his finger on. It's like he's hesitating about something.

"What is it, Jongin-ah?" he asks gently, trying to figure it out. He rubs circles onto Jongin's waist with his thumb, waiting for the response.

Jongin hesitates before he murmurs. "Are you busy this month?"

In his head, Taemin scans through what he remembers of his schedule for the month. Not finding anything particularly important, he shakes his head a little.

"No, not really," he answers. "I'll have to go to Japan early next month, though. Why?"

"Nothing," Jongin's voice is slightly muffled. It's quiet, and if he wasn't literally next to Taemin's ear, maybe he wouldn't hear anything. "Just… You know. My birthday is in two weeks."

Oh. Right. It's January now. There's _that_ special occasion coming up.

He chuckles. "I remember. Is this a reminder for a present?"

Jongin lifts up his head, and shifts upwards a little bit to come face to face with Taemin, placing his elbows on either side of Taemin's head to support his weight.

"Well, it just happens to be on a weekend, this year," Jongin says, staring right into his eyes. He looks like he's carefully piecing together his thoughts, trying to figure out how to say what he wants to convey. "I have a party with the fans the day before, but on the day itself—and the day after—I have nothing on my schedule, so…"

Taemin thinks he knows what Jongin's about to ask from him, but he waits for him to continue. Jongin's biting his lower lip nervously as he tries to gauge Taemin's reaction, so he shoots him an encouraging smile. Or at least he thinks it's an encouraging smile. He tightens his grip on Jongin's side just a little, for good measure.

"If you're not busy, can we… go somewhere?" Jongin asks, finally. He pauses, then adds. "Just the two of us."

He doesn't know why Jongin feels the need to be nervous about asking him for something like this. As long as their schedules permit it, he'd love to spend time with Jongin—even if it just means napping on his bed for a whole day.

Still, he smiles up at the man above him.

"So… a trip?" Taemin asks, to confirm. Jongin nods at him.

"Yeah, just one night is fine, I…" Jongin's cheeks are tinged red, and Taemin already knows he's about to say something cheesy. "I want to spend my birthday with you. Just you."

Jongin's stupid. Or maybe smart, from a different perspective. After seeing this, there's no way he would ever say no to the idea, even if he has things scheduled that day. He's already trying to make it work in his head—he'll tell his manager to move that meeting on the 13th to earlier in the day, and skip that rehearsal on the 15th—

"...So?" Jongin presses for an answer, looking at him expectantly.

"Okay." He moves one of his hands from Jongin's waist to stroke his cheek, brushing off the wayward strand of hair from his face. "I'll make it work. Promise."

Jongin beams down at him happily, gives him a quick peck on the lips, and finally rolls off his body, letting him out of his makeshift cage.

"Okay. You can go change now."

Taemin rolls his eyes and gets up, with extreme reluctance. Right before he stands up, he looks back at Jongin, sending him his best puppy eyes. "You sure you don't want to do it for me?"

Jongin blushes again, but he just shoos him away. "No. Shut up. Change."

-

Taemin ends up clearing off two days and two nights for that weekend. They'll leave after Jongin's birthday party, and come back to Seoul in the afternoon of the 15th. Jongin already has the place booked, so all he has to do is pick him up after the party and drive there. Everything's been planned perfectly.

The place they're going to is pretty far—it's a small villa near a ski resort, a three-hour drive outside the city. It's past eleven at night when they finally arrive there; both of them are considerably tired, but they still have to carry their bags and all the stuff they brought with them inside.

Well, at least Jongin is happy. Taemin's just tired and suffering from leg cramps after driving for so long. He takes his travel bag and throws it off on the floor somewhere once he gets in the villa, choosing to stretch his legs on the living room sofa.

"I'm never driving again," he groans as he wiggles his feet, trying to get the kinks out.

Jongin laughs behind him, picking up the carelessly thrown bag to put it in the bedroom, right by the door. He doesn't have to wait too long for Jongin to come back, looming tall over him as he stands next to the sofa.

"You say that all the time, but you never let me drive your car."

Taemin only has to reach his arm up for Jongin to get the message, immediately bending down to climb on top of him, resting his whole weight on his body. He wraps his arms around Jongin's back, carding his fingers through the long-ish hair at his nape. He loves the way they communicate wordlessly like this. There's no need to explain a lot of things, because actions are enough for them to understand each other. _Another_ upside to dating your best friend.

"Fine. You drive on the way back."

Jongin simply hums under his touch, not moving. They rest together like this for what feels like a long time, with him comfortably stroking Jongin's hair, until he hears the other's breathing turn a little _too_ calm.

"Don't fall asleep," Taemin warns. "It's not twelve yet."

"But it's nice like this," Jongin makes it a point to whine while snuggling further into his arms, and he can't help but chuckle at the rarity of this moment. Usually, he's the one who keeps whining and making trouble to get Jongin to cave in to his wishes.

"You're acting like a baby, Jonginnie."

Jongin lets out a deep laugh, and Taemin can feel it reverberating through his chest.

"Yeah, I'm your baby," Jongin lifts up his head a bit, shamelessly admitting to Taemin's accusation with a teasing tone. "It's cute, right? Please spoil me."

Taemin rolls his eyes and pinches Jongin on his side. He earns himself a little _'oof'_ from Jongin, although it quickly turns into collective laughter between the two of them.

Right as their laughter fizzles out, his phone rings in his back pocket. It's his alarm—he set one for midnight, just to remind himself—which means that Jongin's birthday is now here.

Jongin looks at him curiously as he wiggles under his weight to take his phone out. He shifts upwards, sitting up against the arm of the couch while he shuts off the alarm, tossing it to the side table behind him.

"It's twelve," he comments, pulling Jongin up to rest between his legs. "Happy birthday, Jongin-ah."

Jongin's eyes shine with clarity, now that he knows what the alarm was for.

"Thanks," Jongin chuckles against his lips, right before Taemin pulls him in for a quick celebratory kiss.

"We're the same age again for the next six months," he says as he pulls away, giggling up at his boyfriend. Jongin doesn't let him go too far, leaning in for another kiss, one that lasts much longer than the previous. He realizes a little later that kissing him breathless is Jongin's new and particularly innovative way of shutting him up. Whenever he wants to talk or say a meaningless joke just for fun, he finds his lips captured by Jongin's—and he gets distracted.

He's not complaining, though. Never.

Seemingly satisfied at Taemin's decision to stay silent, Jongin's lips leave his own, traveling away to nibble on his earlobe. He pecks his way down to his neck shortly after, but it ends up as a bit of a failure, courtesy to the fact that he's currently wearing one of his many turtleneck shirts.

"Why did you think it was a good idea to wear this?" Jongin grumbles, his finger hooking at the top of the tight collar, trying to stretch it downwards to expose more of his neck. He sounds so adorably frustrated that Taemin can't help but let out a breathless laugh.

"I don't know. It was cold," he says, shrugging. His lips pull up into a crooked grin when he thinks of what he's going to say next. "But you know, it's not cold anymore. I don't _have_ to be wearing it."

Jongin freezes, lifting his head up to try to figure out Taemin's intentions. His lover's eyes travel down his body and back up to look him straight in the eye again, and he watches as his gaze darkens, despite all the silent questions and hesitation.

"Go on," he quirks his eyebrows in encouragement, pulling him in to whisper in his ear. He tries to make his voice as husky as possible, fully intent on spurring Jongin into action. "Unwrap your birthday present."

Jongin groans.

Taemin eyes his boyfriend's larger hands in amusement as they immediately fly towards the hem of his shirt, pulling it up without a semblance of restraint. Wanting this as much as Jongin does, he willingly cooperates. He pulls his arms up when instructed and slips his head out of the shirt, sighing as the fabric finally leaves his body.

Ruffling his own hair back into place, he leans back, supporting himself with by placing his free elbow on the arm of the sofa behind him. Jongin follows his every move reverently, especially after he shoots his best sultry expression up at him, never breaking eye contact, even as Jongin runs his hands up his torso.

Jongin bites his lip and lets out a long sigh. "God, you're so beautiful."

After saying that, his lover's lips go back to continue where he left off, sucking love marks on his neck, while his hands rest against his waist. Taemin busies himself with unbuttoning Jongin's shirt, inwardly thanking him for choosing to wear a button up, because otherwise, getting this piece of clothing _off_ would be much more of a struggle.

Unlike the last time they were _completely_ alone—it's that disastrous night he doesn't want to remember—he doesn't hesitate to push the shirt off Jongin's shoulders. He pulls it down the other's arms, letting Jongin pull his hands out of the loops before tossing it off somewhere.

From the feel of the fabric, it's probably a pricey shirt—Jongin might scold him later for carelessly throwing it on the floor—but he doesn't care. All he cares about right now is the feel of Jongin's beautiful golden skin under his touch, and the enchanting contrast between their skin tones.

Taemin runs his fingers up Jongin's sides and to his back, feeling the curve of his spine under his hands while Jongin nibbles on the sensitive skin at the crook of his neck. He tilts his head to the side with a silent request for _more,_ and it feels _so wonderful_ when he actually _gets_ more.

Jongin graces him with light nips before he dips his tongue into the curve of his collarbone, traveling down towards his chest. His pants are getting unbearably tight—Jongin has probably noticed by now, but he's still unabashedly lapping his tongue against his skin—and the way Jongin's thumb teases against his nipple _definitely on purpose_ on his way to exploring the rest of his bare torso _isn't helping._

"You're gonna end up eating me whole if you go on like this," he gasps, trying not to moan when Jongin's mouth finally gets low enough on his chest to reach the other one, taking it in and rolling his tongue against the bud. He buries his fingers in the tufts of hair at the back of Jongin's head, stroking and tugging as he goes on and _does his thing_ with his tongue.

When Jongin finally pulls away, he's chuckling at Taemin's most likely very heated, tomato-red face. "That's the plan. It's your fault for not bringing me a birthday cake."

"Fair enough," he huffs, letting himself catch his breath while the birthday boy is feeling merciful enough to spare him.

It was a great decision on his part, because soon Jongin moves up to play with his lips again. He decides to take his revenge. Hooking his thumbs on the loops at the back of Jongin's pants, he splays his fingers against his boyfriend's ass, pulling him closer as their lips move against each other's.

Jongin groans against his lips when he half-intentionally grinds their dicks together, creating delicious friction despite the clothes still separating them.

"Do you know what you do to me," Jongin hisses, his breath hitting Taemin's lips as they messily grind against each other, craving for even more contact.

Despite all the pleasure clouding his mind, Taemin somehow finds the energy to chuckle, thrusting up against his lover as an answer. He gets himself a beautiful moan from Jongin's parted lips, and he regrets nothing.

Hazily, he tells himself that this time, he won't hesitate. He wants _more_ of this—and from the look in his eyes, he can tell Jongin does too. Counting from the day they started dating, _this_ may be a little too soon—it hasn't even been _a month—_ but they've had the months before that, and all the years they've spent as friends. Their relationship is secure enough for this.

Plus, this time he knows that there's no more pretense. They're together for real now. They're in love, and they both want this—there's literally no need to doubt each other anymore.

"Want to move?" Taemin quirks his eyebrows up and flicks his eyes towards the bedroom.

Jongin doesn't have to be told twice before pulling him off of the couch. The rest of their clothing come off before they even get to the bed, and they end up just stumbling onto it completely naked, their hands all over each other's skin and their lower bodies aching for friction.

He recalls imagining this exact moment multiple times, but none of it comes close to this. Everything is a lot more intense, a lot more amazing—a lot more _everything_ compared to his imaginations. Despite all his fantasies, he never thought he would end up writhing under Jongin's ministrations—reduced into a moaning mess who is unable to find words other than _Jongin_ in his vocabulary—and _loving every second of it._

Later that night, when he's reaching his climax, he finally manages to voice out the words he's been wanting to express for so long.

"I love you," he gasps. _"Jongin—"_

Jongin lets out a husky groan at the confession—and somehow these exact words send his lover over the edge, moaning his name over and over, eyes slipping shut under all the pleasure.

When Jongin's eyes finally open again, they are glistening with quiet tears, and Taemin's heart clenches. He wonders how long Jongin's been waiting for him to say the words out loud.

"I love you," Jongin says, his voice trembling with emotion. "I love you, Taemin-ah—I love you _so much._ "

Suddenly overwhelmed with all these feelings he wants to express, Taemin blinks his own tears away before they even form.

"I know." He pulls Jongin in for one more lasting kiss, feeling his lips curve up into a smile. "I love you too, Jongin-ah."

-

Taemin wakes up to the feeling of a finger tracing circles onto his chest.

His _bare_ chest, he processes belatedly in his half-awake state.

Right. _Last night_ happened.

He hasn't opened his eyes yet, but his heart rate is already quickening at the memory. His face is probably reddening, too.

Without warning, the lone finger on his chest is joined by the rest of the hand. It roams across his body, tracing down over his abs, then back up towards his chest—the hand brushes over a nipple as it travels upwards, and he can't stop the hitch in his breath when it happened.

Jongin's deep chuckle rumbles next to him, so despite all the reluctance oozing from his body, he open his eyes.

"You knew I was awake," he says, begrudgingly glaring at Jongin.

Jongin replies his glare with an amused look, smirking.

"Your heart sped up," Jongin says lightly. His hand doesn't stop its exploration of Taemin's body, even as he leans in to peck his lips. "Good morning, Taeminnie."

Whatever. It's his birthday—he'll let him do whatever he wants.

"Morning," he replies, smiling up at him. The grin Jongin gives him in return is warm, affectionate, and probably the most beautiful in the world. He's really lucky to have him. "So, why are you groping me so early in the morning?"

Jongin quirks his eyebrows, looking at him with even more amusement.

"Well, it's 1 PM right now, so we kind of already missed out on the whole _morning_ thing—"

Taemin decides to interrupt him with a huff. "We didn't even sleep until like—I don't know, five?"

Jongin's hand stills at the memory. The dark flush on his face is very visible, now that daylight is shining in through the windows.

"And whose fault is _that?_ Partly yours, if I remember correctly," his boyfriend grumbles back, pouting. "But anyway, to answer your question…"

Jongin trails off, and the red on his face darkens even more—Taemin never even knew that was possible. It's adorable, though.

"I just wanted to make sure this whole thing wasn't a dream," Jongin continues, tracing a finger absentmindedly along his sternum. "I wanted to make sure that you're _really_ mine. _All_ mine."

Despite expecting nothing less from this _sap_ he calls his lover, he still can't stop his own face from burning up into a flush, so dark it's matching Jongin's. His heart is pounding, and he's getting _way_ too excited for someone who just woke up literally two minutes ago.

Their little moment is interrupted by the shrill ring of a ringtone, echoing from somewhere in the room.

It must be Jongin's phone, because that's not his ringtone—and because his own phone is still out in the living room, abandoned there before their… late night activity.

The ringing isn't stopping, so with a loud, reluctant groan, Jongin leaves his side to in his search for the cursed phone. He watches as Jongin walks around the room, still completely naked, his neck and chest littered with hickeys.

It's quite a fascinating sight, truthfully speaking—but he doesn't know if this is good or bad. He's trying to tamp down his  _excitement_ _,_  for god's sake, and _it's not working,_ not if Jongin's prancing around naked like this.

After quickly searching through every corner of the room, Jongin finally finds his phone, and picks up the call, for some odd reason.

Well. _That_ works, at least. He's not Jongin; he doesn't have a PDA kink.

"What is it," Jongin grumbles to the phone, holding it a few inches away from his face as he walks back towards the bed.

Apparently, it's a video call. Taemin has no idea what Jongin is thinking, answering a video call completely naked when it's not even _him_ calling. Jongin climbs onto the bed, sitting against the headboard and shuffling his legs back under the blankets.

Taemin pokes at his side with a questioning look that never received an answer. He figures it out himself when he finally catches a glimpse of the screen. He almost lets out a groan when he figures out exactly _who_ is on the call.

"Happy birthday!"

Moonkyu and Kwonho's cheerful voices ring through the phone's speakers, filling out the room. They continue with a horrible rendition of a happy birthday song—horrible is understandable on Kwonho's part, but Moonkyu is a _singer_ by profession. He should know better, really.

"Thanks, guys," Jongin says casually. One of his hands find its way to Taemin's hair and starts stroking, so he quietly snuggles closer, resting his head closer against Jongin's side while slinging an arm across his waist.

"Where are you?" Moonkyu asks, then. "You don't look like you're home."

"Ah, out of town," Jongin answers vaguely. "Why? Don't tell me you planned a surprise party."

The two people on the screen probably just noticed Jongin's state of dress, because they start cheering and whooping all of a sudden.

"Someone had some birthday fun last night," Kwonho teases. Taemin can picture him wiggling his eyebrows without even looking at the screen—and he can't stop his own eyebrows from twitching with annoyance.

Jongin probably knows that he's already planning murder in his head, because he refrains from saying anything else.

Not knowing his fate, Kwonho persists with his teasing, asking even more questions. "Who is it? Another idol? Same company? Different?"

He tightens his grip on Jongin's waist and glares up at him, shaking his head. Unfortunately, Jongin knows he's not being that serious about this little threatful glare, and chooses to play ignorant.

"Senior? Junior? Give us some clues, at least."

This time, Jongin has the gall to laugh out loud. He sends him another _look_ to tell him not to say anything, although it's not like he actually _minds_ if those two know. From what he can see of the screen, at least Moonkyu is smart enough to stay silent. He has always been the observant one—he probably knows what's going on already.

Still ignoring the murderous looks Taemin's been sending up at him, Jongin opens his mouth. "A senior idol, I guess? By about four years or so…"

Jongin trails off vaguely, and he takes this chance to poke his boyfriend right on the stomach. He huffs in satisfaction when Jongin stiffens, holding back from dodging away.

"Ah, four years? But there's nobody you know—wait, if it's from your company..."

Jongin just keeps laughing and grinning—and Taemin's starting to get infected by all the happiness so he grabs Jongin's hand and turns the camera in his direction, trying to send the man on the screen his best glare.

"Yah, wanna die?" he says to the man who claims to be one of his best friends, earning lots of laughter from Jongin—and Moonkyu, on the other end of the line. The corners of his own lips stretch into a grin, so he tries his best to resist it. He's supposed to be _annoyed_ right now.

"If you're so curious, I'll give you all the dirty details. Still want to know?"

Shaken out of his blank stare, Kwonho shouts comically, repeating _'no way'_ and _'too much information'_ over and over as he passes the phone over to Moonkyu.

Now that his cover's blown—not that there was much of one in the first place—he lets Jongin take his hand back to its former position. He sits up instead, plopping his head on his lover's very naked shoulder, firmly suppressing the smile that's threatening to bloom on his face.

"You guys still playing that game?" Moonkyu asks with a chuckle, looking significantly calmer than their other friend.

"No," Jongin responds, smiling. His free hand follows Taemin up to continue playing with his hair. "The game kind of ended a while ago, but the content is still going on… if you know what I mean."

"You guys rigged the game," Taemin complains, huffing at the camera. "This is all your fault."

Moonkyu grins at them, clapping happily. "Well, it was about time."

"Yeah, we were starting to get sick of you guys being in denial all the time," Kwonho supports, finally having some courage to come with more teasing. Taemin really wants to pinch him. Or punch him. Either way works.

"Now that you know," Jongin starts, his eyebrows quirking up. "Can I hang up on you guys? I'd like to actually spend my birthday with people who _matter._ "

"Wow—he just forgets about his friends now that he has a boyfriend," Kwonho says, pretending to be offended.

Taemin may be a gentle person by nature, but he curses too—at least inwardly—from time to time.

This time is one of them.

"Point invalid, because this boyfriend also happens to be my best friend for over a decade," Jongin says as he looks down at Taemin fondly. Then he smirks at the camera. "And he's also going to murder you once he gets back to Seoul."

Kwonho laughs this time, instead of running away. In the end, their two best friends say their congratulations and wishes Jongin happy birthday one last time, before they hang up.

"Well," Jongin laughs, glancing at him. "I honestly didn't expect to tell them like that."

As always, Jongin's laugh is infectious, so he ends up bursting into giggles as well.

When their laughter subsides, he nuzzles into Jongin's neck, pressing butterfly kisses on his way up towards his lips. Jongin welcomes the kiss eagerly, parting his lips to let him explore as much as he wants until he pulls away.

"It may make a pretty boring birthday," he starts. "But what do you say about sleeping the day away? I'm exhausted."

Jongin breathes out a laugh. "Whatever's fine, as long as it's with you."

Taemin blinks, taken aback. Then he huffs. "You're such a sap."

"You love me," Jongin challenges, smirking.

Taemin laughs and leans in again, pressing his lips onto Jongin's gently.

"That, I do."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S DONE!!!!
> 
> Thank you all so much for sticking with me! I honestly didn't expect this to get such good reviews when I started it... I love you guys so much (´；ω；`)
> 
> My original plan was to have it end after they talked and realized each other's feelings, but after some consideration I decided to resolve some of that dumb sexual frustration (even though I absolutely suck at writing smut lol that's why it ended up like that). I'm still not as satisfied with this chapter as I could be, but in the middle of editing I hit 10k words yet again, so I had to stop myself ^^;; Sigh.
> 
> Just FYI, if anyone has a taekai prompt, feel free to send them my way~ You can talk to me on Twitter (@mlchlwhite) or send me a message on Tumblr (melancholywhite), whatever works. This fic was originally based on a prompt too and I just ended up writing it because we never have enough fics for this ship ;A;
> 
> Anyway, this has been really fun! I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did! Goodbye~ <3


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